Ted Kennedy: Scenes from an Epic Life

Regardless of your political affiliation, there can be no argument that our nation laid to rest one of the greatest senators to ever walk the halls of the Capitol. Our collective decision at It’s Good Stuff to pay tribute to the late Senator Edward M. (Ted) Kennedy began with a search for the written word to define this man and his life.  While books about the Kennedys abound, Ted Kennedy: Scenes from an Epic Life, a pictorial biography of the last Kennedy brother stopped us in our tracks.  We looked no further…in this case, a picture is worth thousands of words.  Writers and photographers from the Boston Globe, have assembled a mostly-visual history of the Senator from Massachusetts that captures the Kennedy charm and buoyancy, as well as the effects of tragedy, adversity (some self-inflicted), and responsibility.  We could not look away from the photos of Senator Kennedy. His face is transparent, and just below its surface, the photos capture the marks of sadness, determination, fortitude, pride, jubilation and shame. This book is a stunning tribute to Ted Kennedy, a champion of the downtrodden and last son of the Kennedy dynasty.

Now, we eagerly await the autobiography of Edward Kennedy, which goes on sale September 14. True Compass: Edward M. Kennedy, co-authored by Ron Powers, the Pulitzer Prize winning author of Flags of Our Fathers, is based on Senator Kennedy’s 50-year accumulation of contemporaneous notes.