A review by imrogers
Profiles in Courage by John F. Kennedy

adventurous challenging dark emotional hopeful informative inspiring reflective sad slow-paced

5.0

I bought a copy of this book after visiting the JFK Presidential Museum in Boston, and am incredibly glad I did.  Kennedy's testament to courage -- in this case, what it means to speak out for what's right regardless of what the people around you think -- is incredibly well articulated in the context of American politics, and the opening chapter thoroughly unpacks the myriad of forces that vie for every senator and representative's attention.  I knew very little about the eight senators portrayed here before reading this book, and learned a lot as a result, particularly about the pre-Civil War era (in the Daniel Webster, Thomas Hart Benton, and Sam Houston chapters) and the impeachment of Andrew Johnson (in the Edmund G. Ross chapter).  

Aside from all this, I would argue that Kennedy's exploration of courage and taking action for what's right is more relevant today than ever before in our own age of tribalism and party loyalty -- a reminder that things could be done differently, and that many courageous officials have done them differently in the past.  The HarperCollins "PS" edition also includes a biography of Kennedy and speeches from John Lewis on the Freedom Riders movement and Georgia state representative Dan Ponder on anti-hate crime legislation, powerful additions I wouldn't have stumbled across otherwise.