A review by tiiiger35
Ask Not: The Kennedys and the Women They Destroyed by Maureen Callahan

dark informative reflective fast-paced

4.5

Yikes!! Kennedy men & their salacious appetites for sex, drugs, power, danger & using & abusing the women and girls they’re surrounded by. 

Never mind the fictional “Kennedy curse”, these men have a generational death wish & they don’t care who gets hurt in the process. Jackie Kennedy unbeknownst to herself, romanticised this misogynistic culture within the family by creating “Camelot”. In protecting her husband’s legacy she appeared to publicly justify & bury these horrid traits. No wonder the next generations of Kennedy men felt they were invincible. 

What surprised me most was the toxic culture the Kennedy women also created. Their matriarch Rose encouraged wives & girlfriends to turn a blind eye to infidelity, just as she had done. Her daughters grew up knowing they were second to their brothers & passed this mentality down to any young women entering the family. Intelligent, strong women like Ethel, Jackie & Joan inevitably raised sons no better than their fathers. No lessons were ever learned, the cycle of abuse continued unchallenged. The Kennedy name remained a shield, protecting them from any serious consequences, even for murder.