Pulitzer Prize-winning author Doris Kearns Goodwin is renowned for her masterful portraits of historical presidential figures, including Lincoln, Franklin and Eleanor Roosevelt, and Lyndon Johnson.
In her new book, “An Unfinished Love Story: A Personal History of the 1960s,” she turns her considerable talents to a person close to home: her husband of 42 years, Richard Goodwin. Richard worked as a speechwriter and advisor to presidents John F. Kennedy and Lyndon B. Johnson, as well as Sen. Robert F. Kennedy.
Before helping LBJ write his memoir, Kearns Goodwin worked directly for him in his administration.
Kearns Goodwin takes us on an intimate journey meticulously drawn from over 300 boxes of her husband’s personal history, including letters, diaries, documents, and memorabilia collected over his 50-year career in politics.
The Goodwins began the project together, but Richard died in spring of 2018, leaving Kearns Goodwin to complete the work. The result is a vivid portrait of some iconic figures and events that defined the ’60s and shaped American history.
The book provides an intriguing behind-the-scenes look at the intersection of the personal lives and public impact of a few of the memorable leaders during pivotal moments of the decade: the Cuban missile crisis, the assassinations of John and Bobby Kennedy and Martin Luther King Jr., and the passing of the Civil Rights Act. Richard’s experience showcases the triumphs and vulnerabilities of the leaders.
Despite challenges and egos, he witnessed their unwavering commitment to, and shared vision for, a better world.
Artfully written, the story resonates with the couple’s deep affection and mutual professional respect.
After Richard’s death, Kearns Goodwin committed herself to sharing their reflections and insights in this engaging book.
In the epilogue, she mentions that Richard thought of his boxes as a time capsule with messages to be delivered at an appropriate time in the future. Feeling that the same divisions — “between Black and white, old and young, rich and poor” — that emanated from the ’60s remain unsolved today, Kearns Goodwin determined that “the future is now.”
In his final years, Literature Nobel laureate Gabriel García Márquez struggled to write his last novel, “Until August,” while aging and suffering from memory loss.
Ultimately, he determined that the text didn’t work and declared that “It must be destroyed.”
As his sons admit in the preface, they instead set the book aside, and now, 10 years after his death, have judged the novel worthy of publication.
The tale follows Ana Magdalena, a married middle-aged woman, who goes on a trip every August to take a stranger as a lover for one night.
She ferries to a Caribbean island to visit her mother’s grave and escape her home, husband, and children. She sits in bars and restaurants to meet potential men, and after each encounter reflects on her desires and regrets.
While no one expects this slim novel to be a masterpiece akin to Márquez’s previous acclaimed works, “One Hundred Years of Solitude” or “Love in The Time of Cholera,” his recognizable evocative and often tender storytelling is evident.
Ana’s emotional exploration of freedom and love resonates. As Márquez’s sons hoped, their “act of betrayal” in disregarding their father’s wishes by saving this book, will be forgiven by his fans.
We first met Eilis Lacey in Colm Tóibín’s 2009 novel, “Brooklyn” (and for me in the excellent 2015 movie version with Saoirse Ronan), and she returns to us in his captivating latest book, “Long Island.”
After leaving Ireland and settling in Brooklyn, Eilis finds herself in a lonely marriage in a suburban Long Island neighborhood with her Italian American husband Tony and his extended family.
One day, a stranger shows up and announces that his wife is pregnant with Tony’s child — a baby he plans to drop at their doorstep after it’s born.
It is the mid-’70s and Eilis is a middle-aged woman with two teenage kids and a marriage in crisis. Faced with this stunning news, after 20 years away, she decides to return to her hometown in Ireland where her mother and family and, notably, a man she had a romance with and abruptly left behind, still reside.
Eilis straddles two worlds. She is tied to America by her children yet rooted to Ireland by a sense of home and love, sentiments missing from her life.
The story is much about how decisions are confounded by what’s unspoken to one another — a secret baby, an unfulfilled past romance, a current engagement. Eilis’s choice between obligation and longing is complicated and constrained by the expectations of family and society.
As she struggles to be an independent woman and make her life her own, her fate may not be in her hands. Tóbín waited 15 years to publish this sequel and it is worth the wait. While he has not promised to write a third installment, (he’s 68 years old) I, for one, really need to know the final destiny of this heroine.