Edward J. Renehan Jr.

"Renehan ... turns in a masterful glance at the social history of the Gilded Age as well as a brilliant biography of Gould ... Renehan's sumptuous prose and his dazzling research and style provide a window into Gould's ambitions and offer a first-rate social history of the financial workings of his time." - Publishers Weekly, Starred Review

" ... lively revisionist biography. ... " - Wendy Smith, Washington Post BookWorld

"The deals ... are something to behold, and Mr. Renehan describes them with zest." - William Grimes, New York Times (Daily)

“A thorough and lively history of America’s first family during WWII.” - Kirkus

“Veteran biographer Renehan presents a well-written, well-researched account of the Kennedys in the years leading up to and during WWII. ... Renehan argues quite convincingly that the war was the transformative experience of young JFK's life, and set the tone for both the triumphs and tragedies that would mark the family for the rest of the century." - Publishers Weekly

 “An engaging and forthright biographer, Renehan is not afraid to state his opinion about his subjects. ... Renehan argues persuasively that Jack grew in unexpected ways from his war experiences, paving his way to the presidency. A fine addition to the Kennedy canon.” - Ilene Cooper, writing in Booklist

“Renehan’s beguiling book [provides] a revealing portrait of the old Anglo-Saxon elite that once dominated American society. No family personified that elite quite like the Roosevelts.” - Robert W. Merry, President & Publisher of Congressional Quarterly, writing in The Sunday New York Times Book Review

"Renehan creates a story that is at once a family tragedy and the denouement of a way of thinking. .. Through previously unpublished family papers, judiciously chosen facts and a moving narrative that skillfully parallels the personal and the political, Renehan reveals a great deal about American society and politics, and the culture of war. But most of all, he tells a sad story of the end of an era and the end of a man.” - Publishers Weekly, Starred Review

 
“The exciting account of absolute fearlessness in three generations of a great American family, with some interesting speculation as to the different prices that may have to be paid for it.” - Louis Auchincloss

“A spellbinding study in revolution from the top down — gaslit opulence with tense whispers from the sidelines.” - The Sunday New York Times Book Review

“[This book is] perfect on those autumn evenings when one likes to curl up before the fire and contemplate extremism, madness, cowardice, brutality, and the little moral ironies of life.” - Jamie Malanowski, writing in Esquire

“The book is a wonderful stage. It is filled with the fiery Victorian Romantics who ruled American pulpits and platforms in the years before their voices were drowned out by Fort Sumter.”  - The Baltimore Sun

“Renehan admirably works himself into the inner circle of these would-be conspirators for good.” - Garry Wills, author of the Pulitzer Prize-winning Lincoln at Gettysburg

“[Renehan reveals] a far more complex and interesting man than other biographers have described. ..." - The Sunday New York Times Book Review

“Burroughs ... could not have asked for a more inclusive or caring portrait ... [Renehan] allows the man to emerge from the fog of his reputation, broad of stature but riddled naturally enough with foibles.” - Kirkus

“Renehan’s biography does precisely what it sets out to do: it provides the thorough, responsible, readable biography which has so long been wanting in Burroughs scholarship.” - American Nature Writing, 1993 edition