News Release

Brookline Booksmith and John Fitzgerald Kennedy NHS to Host Virtual Event with Historian and Author Dr. Fredrik Logevall for Release of His New Biography “JFK: Coming of Age in the American Century, 1917-1956.”

News Release Date: September 1, 2020

Contact: Jim Roberts, 617-566-7937

Sat, Sep 26, 2020, 7:00 PM EDT

To register: https://www.brooklinebooksmith.com/event/fredrik-logevall-seth-blumenthal

Brookline, MA– Dr. Fredrik Logevall argues that of the countless biographies that have come and gone in the decades following President Kennedy’s untimely death, these accounts all fail to capture the complete John F. Kennedy. Beckoned by this gap in our historical knowledge, Fredrik Logevall has spent much of the last decade searching for the “real” JFK. The result of this herculean effort is a sweeping two-volume biography that properly contextualizes Kennedy amidst the roiling 20th Century. This volume spans the first thirty-nine years of JFK’s life.

Along the way, Logevall tells the parallel story of America’s midcentury rise. As Kennedy comes of age, we see the charged debate between isolationists and interventionists; the tumult of the Second World War; the spread of the Cold War; and the domestic politics of anti-Communism and McCarthyism. This is a sweeping history of the United States in the middle decades of the twentieth century, as well as the clearest portrait we have of an enigmatic American icon.

Fredrik Logevall is Laurence D. Belfer Professor of International Affairs and professor of history at Harvard University. A specialist on U.S. foreign-relations history and modern international history, he is the author or editor of nine books, most recently Embers of War, which won the Pulitzer Prize for History and the Francis Parkman Prize.

Moderator Seth Blumenthal is a Senior Lecturer in Boston University’s College of Arts and Sciences Writing Program. This year, Blumenthal was recognized with Boston University’s Metcalf Award for Teaching Excellence. His research focuses on the Republican Party and conservative politics after 1968, and his first book published in 2018, Children of the Silent Majority: Youth Politics and the Rise of the Republican Party, 1968-1980, won the New England Historical Association’s James P. Hanlan Book Award. Blumenthal is also a founding member of the Friends of JFK Birthplace and currently serves on the Board of Directors as Secretary and Program Committee Chair.

Brookline Booksmith is a family owned bookstore, founded in 1961. Since then, they’ve fostered connection and community with every kind of reader in Brookline, Boston, and beyond. Through their thoughtful curation, beloved children’s section, eclectic Used Book Cellar, and award-winning events series—including the celebrated Transnational Literature Series—they strive to be a haven for those who find comfort, enrichment, and joy in books.  Located in Coolidge Corner, less than a block away from the Coolidge Corner T-stop on the “C” branch of the Green Line, and across the street from the Coolidge Corner Theatre

John Fitzgerald Kennedy National Historic Site preserves the birthplace (1917) and early boyhood home of the 35th president of the United States. The modest house was the first home shared by the president’s parents, Joseph P. and Rose Fitzgerald Kennedy. John, the second of nine children, spent his formative years in Brookline as his family began its rise to national prominence. In 1966, Mrs. Kennedy returned to 83 Beals Street to commemorate her son’s life, restoring the birthplace to her recollection of its 1917 appearance. The historic house, collections, and neighboring Brookline community permit exploration of early influences that shaped the character and ambitions of John Fitzgerald Kennedy.

Due to renovations and exhibit maintenance, John Fitzgerald Kennedy National Historic Site will remain closed in 2020. Renovations are expected to be completed by late 2021. The house will not be open for tours while the renovations are underway. Once installed, the new visitor center will provide a wheelchair lift for access to the ground floor, an accessible restroom, and improved retail space.

During the closure, John Fitzgerald Kennedy NHS may be explored virtually through the site’s website: www.nps.gov/jofi. Visitors can access the site film “The Shaping of a President: The First Home of John F. Kennedy”. The film is twelve and a half minutes long and available in English, French, German, Japanese, Portuguese, Russian, and Spanish. Visitors can also access three distinct virtual tours; “Rose Kennedy House Tour,” “Ranger Jason’s House Tour,” and a Kennedy “Neighborhood Tour” of North Brookline. The “Rose Kennedy House Tour” is available in English, French, German, Japanese, and Spanish. The site has been adding additional digital resources to the website and social media while the site is closed. Check our website and Facebook site for updates.

A self-guided tour of the neighborhood is also included in the site brochure and identifies nearby Brookline sites associated with the Kennedy family. For more information, please call [phone], visit us online at www.nps.gov/jofi, or follow us on Facebook at www.facebook.com/JFKennedyNHS and on Instagram at www.instagram.com/JFKennedyNPS.