The Last Campaign

Robert F. Kennedy and 82 Days That Inspired America

By: Thurston Clarke

Narrated by: Pete Larkin

With new research and previously unavailable interviews, The Last Campaign provides an intimate and absorbing historical narrative that goes right to the heart of America's deepest despairs - and most fiercely held dreams - and tells us more than we had understood before about this complicated man and the heightened dramas of his times.

After John F. Kennedy's assassination, Robert Kennedy - formerly Jack's no-holds-barred political warrior - almost lost hope. He was haunted by his brother's murder, and by the nation's seeming inabilities to solve its problems of race, poverty, and the war in Vietnam. Bobby sensed the country's pain, and when he announced that he was running for president, the country united behind his hopes. Over the action-packed 82 days of his campaign, Americans were inspired by Kennedy's promise to lead them toward a better time. And after an assassin's bullet stopped this last great stirring public figure of the 1960s, crowds lined up along the country's railroad tracks to say goodbye to Bobby.

Clarke's The Last Campaign is the definitive account of Robert Kennedy's exhilarating and tragic 1968 campaign for president - and a revelatory history that is especially resonant now.

©2008 Thurston Clarke (P)2008 HighBridge Company

Critic reviews

" The Last Campaign is a great read....Thurston Clarke's keen eye for the telling detail and his fast-paced narrative make the The Last Campaign a must-have for any student of American politics." (Tom Brokaw)
"This is a book worthy of the man and that moment, an honorable and unforgettable piece of work. The Last Campaign should be required reading for anyone seeking public office, and for the rest of us, too." (Joel Klein, author of Primary Colors)

it is what it is

Details of Robert Kennedy's presidential campaign were enlightening, surprising and often moving. At times one wishes that today's political leaders would listen to this book and take to heart the ideas and stated priorities of Robert Kennedy as conveyed through the speeches here presented.


One cannot avoid thinking, "what if." What if RFK had not been gunned down? How different the United States and its place in the world might be today. Would the US have converted its economy to peaceful production and help the world avoid the waste and destruction of preventable wars and arms proliferation? Would his administration have effectively addressed poverty and racism? Would he have blazed a new path? Would his example establish a new model for political engagement? The author doesn't pretend to know what is unknowable, but the listener/reader is left with much to think about.

Great book

Highly recommend this book about a history changing man that was lost too soon. Who knows how the world would be different today

Very Well Done!

This book provides an insight to REK without idolizing him. He is portrayed as a leader who struggled as we all do and was stolen from us too early. It also provides excellent insight into concepts of the times.

Hopeful and Still Heartbreking

I feel Clarke has detailed the 82 Presidential campaign of Robert F. Kennedy. although the outcome was not a surprise, his humanitarian ism answer wisdom for humanity that he possessed shine through. I keep wondering: "Will we have another person run for easy political office who is as op Ryu idiotic about Domestic affairs as Kennedy was during 1968?" only time shall tell.

Timely. Revealing. Inspiring. Heartbreaking.

We think we know who RFK was but, like most heroes and icons, we assign more of us to their legacy than we do learning more. This brought me back and gave me new vision and insight.