Author(s): Jill Abramson

History

Building on the success of its Civil War volume, The New York Times has authorised a similar book on the Kennedy presidency based on the Times's unsurpassed coverage of events during those three eventful years from 1961 to 1963. The work of the reporters and analysts at the Times provide an on-the-spot view of events that with historical perspective gain new meaning and understanding, from the dramatic failure of the Bay of Pigs and Nikita Khrushchev's bullying of the young president in Vienna in 1961 to Kennedy's brilliant settlement of the Cuban Missile Crisis and his astute negotiating that brought about the first nuclear test ban treaty. This volume provides a serious primary source record of the Kennedy years taken from the most trustworthy of American news organisations. Reading the young David Halberstam's reports from Vietnam, for example, shows how truly chaotic that war-torn nation had become by 1963. At home the coverage by Anthony Lewis of James Meredith's struggle to become the first African-American to attend the University of Mississippi in 1962 brings a dramatic immediacy to those dramatic days.
The same can be said about the young Tom Wicker's astonishing piece of reporting on the assassination of the president and the swearing in of Lyndon Johnson at the Dallas airport. The book includes some of the finest journalism of its time or of any time by some of its greatest practitioners. But what makes the project even more special is that it also includes new essays and analysis by some of today's most important historians and journalists on various topics. On top of all the substantial content are more than 125 full-colour and b&w photographs, generously arranged throughout, creating the ultimate volume on the 1000 days of one of the most celebrated and fascinating U.S. historical figures.