The book being used as part of this presentation is a NEW YORK TIMES NOTABLE BOOK OF THE YEAR.  A Pulitzer Prize-winning historian and leading expert on the topic of John F. Kennedy, Fredrik Logevall, takes us as close as we have ever been to the real John F. Kennedy in this revelatory biography of the iconic, yet still elusive, thirty-fifth president. 

Logevall will speak about his expertise and writings in this book that delves into Kennedy's childhood, education at Harvard, and his experiences during World War II, highlighting his physical bravery and the influence of his family and their political ambitions. He will touch upon how Kennedy's internationalist perspective and growing political consciousness shaped his decision to enter national politics. Logevall draws on previously unseen materials, including Oval Office tapes, interviews with Jackie Kennedy, and declassified CIA documents, to offer a fresh perspective on Kennedy's life and presidency. He will be presenting remotely.

Fredrik Logevall is the Laurence D. Belfer Professor of International Affairs at the John F. Kennedy School of Government and Professor of History, Harvard University. A specialist on U.S. foreign relations history and modern international history, he was previously the Anbinder Professor of History at Cornell University, where he also served as vice provost and as the director of the Mario Einaudi Center for International Studies. Logevall is the author or editor of ten books, most recently JFK: Coming of Age in the American Century, 1917-1956 (Random House, 2020). His book Embers of War: The Fall of an Empire and the Making of America’s Vietnam (Random House, 2012), won the 2013 Pulitzer Prize for History and the 2013 Francis Parkman Prize, as well as the 2013 American Library in Paris Book Award and the 2013 Arthur Ross Book Award from the Council on Foreign Relations. His other recent works include America’s Cold War: The Politics of Insecurity (with Campbell Craig; 2nd ed., Belknap/Harvard, 2020), and the college-level textbook A People and A Nation: A History of the United States (with Jane Kamensky et al; 11th ed., Cengage, 2018). A native of Stockholm, Sweden, Logevall holds a PhD in History from Yale University. He is a past president of the Society for Historians of American Foreign Relations.