The Sins of the Father

Joseph P. Kennedy and the Dynasty He Founded

By: Ronald Kessler

Narrated by: Frank Langella

From the New York Times bestselling author of 20 books about the Secret Service, FBI, and CIA comes the detailed account of the life and times of the ambitious, powerful, masterfully manipulative Joseph Patrick Kennedy.

For all his wealth and power, Joe Kennedy was not a happy man. He also had no shame. What he cared about was having power. Through the political dynasty that he founded, he achieved that for generations to come. If he hurt and corrupted others in the process, no one had the courage to challenge him.

The results are the myths that continue to enshrine the Kennedy family and maintain it as a national obsessions. This book explodes those myths. Utilizing extensive research and interviews with Kennedy family members and their intimates, speaking on record for the first time, Kessler reveals stunning details of Joseph Kennedy's enormous accomplishments and the terrible personal losses he suffered.

The fact that he was a lying cheat criminal no morals and screw anybody for money shouldn’t be in jail

I like the accuracy would’ve liked to hear more about the Hagan Somerset and bootlegging operation

Very interesting

I would have given the audio 5 stars but the actual book has more reading material.

Biased Hatchet Job

I've been an Audible member for 15 years and have listened to 100's of books and have never given a negative review. This "book" changed that. I know that Joe Kennedy was no saint and I have read three other biographies of him, so I have a basis to evaluate this book.
The author Kessler slants every aspect of his life to the negative, using some very obtuse sources and most often no source whatsoever.
He paints him as stupid and yet an evil genius. Lazy and yet industrious in his malfeasance.
He spends many chapters accusing him of anti-semitism, which even if true should not be the main theme of a biography.
I have no great admiration for Joseph Kennedy and am sure that he had many flaws and misdeeds, but to smear him in nearly every paragraph makes the reader feel like we are learning more about the author's over-the-top disdain than about this complex and consequential historical figure.