Ask Not: The Kennedys and the Women They Destroyed
by Maureen Callahan
Blurb:
The Kennedy name has long been synonymous with wealth, power, glamor, and—above all else—integrity. But this carefully constructed veneer hides a dark truth: the pattern of Kennedy men physically and psychologically abusing women and girls, leaving a trail of ruin and death in each generation’s wake. Through decades of scandal after scandal—from sexual assaults to reputational slander, suicides to manslaughter—the family and their defenders have kept the Kennedy brand intact.
Now, in Ask Not, bestselling author and journalist Maureen Callahan reveals the Kennedys’ hidden history of violence and exploitation, laying bare their unrepentant sexism and rampant depravity while also restoring these women and girls to their rightful place at the center of the dynasty’s story: from Jacqueline Onassis and Marilyn Monroe to Carolyn Bessette, Martha Moxley, Mary Jo Kopechne, Rosemary Kennedy, and many others whose names aren’t nearly as well known but should be.
Drawing on years of explosive reportage and written in electric prose, Ask Not is a long-overdue reckoning with this fabled family and a consequential part of American history that is still very much with us. At long last Callahan redirects the spotlight to the women in the Kennedys’ orbit, paying homage to those who freed themselves and giving voice to those who, through no fault of their own, could not.
My Reaction:
Biographical nonfiction is a genre I only rarely ever read. When I have, the subject has usually been an author rather than a politician, much less an entire family of politicians—but this sounded interesting, and I thought maybe it would be an entertaining way to learn a little more about this period of American history.
In school, we always seemed to cover the more distant past in great detail, while anything more recent than WWII was skimmed over hastily, which is a shame. As important as our earlier history is, there are many lessons in relatively recent history that are just as valuable and possibly more relevant to an understanding of current events.
Anyway… Thanks to my upbringing, I’ve never understood the obsession with/admiration for the Kennedys, and I didn’t know much about them beyond the basics you almost can’t help but absorb as an American adult who sometimes pays attention to politics.
From skimming others' reviews, I gather that the book has some factual details wrong—things that should have been easy to check during editing. That's a shame, as it encourages questions about the accuracy of the rest of the book. Another complaint is that the book sometimes feels a bit gossipy, and I can't disagree, but to be fair, that may be difficult to avoid, given the nature of the material covered.
On the whole, I feel confident that “enough” of this is accurate to present a reasonably fair idea of who many of these people were/are. The meat of the book is not facts, figures, and details, which can be looked up online at any time, but rather the broader picture of the attitudes, values, and behaviors that seem to have prevailed among so many members of this famous family.
As someone with no illusions about the Kennedys, I’m not surprised that they’re worse than I knew—and that’s just the stuff that’s evidently widely known and accepted as fact. I also have to say that few of the “women they destroyed” come out looking good, either—particularly the women who seem to have gone into their relationships despite having plenty of evidence that it was a terrible idea. The Kennedys weren't the only ones in this book who were driven by an excess of ambition and a lust for power.
All in all, this was a depressing reminder that the best of us rarely end up in positions of political power, and sometimes even scummy, dishonorable individuals are almost worshipped, if they have the right look, excellent PR, and enough of the media covering for them—oh, and money or influence, either of their own or borrowed from people who are using them for their own nefarious purposes. It’s disgusting, honestly. I wouldn't say that no Kennedy ever did anything good for the country, but I certainly don’t believe they deserve the many decades of adoration they’ve enjoyed in our nation, and the notion of “Camelot” makes me sick, quite frankly, especially now that I know the backstory.
On a personal note, every time I listened to this book, I ended up in a bad mood! This isn’t the best genre for me, clearly.
