These Few Precious Days

The Final Year of Jack with Jackie

By: Christopher Andersen

Narrated by: Robertson Dean

They were the original power couple - outlandishly rich, impossibly attractive, and endlessly fascinating. Now, in this rare, behind-the-scenes portrait of the Kennedys in their final year together, New York Times best-selling biographer Christopher Andersen shows us a side of JFK and Jackie we’ve never seen before. Tender, intimate, complex, and, at times, explosive, theirs is a love story unlike any other - filled with secrets, scandals, and bombshells that could never be fully revealed…until now.

Andersen reveals stunning new details about the Kennedys’ rumored affairs - hers as well as his - and how they ultimately overcame all odds to save their marriage; the president’s many premonitions of his own death and how he repeatedly tried to pull out of his last fateful trip to Dallas; shocking revelations about how the couple, unaware of the dangers, became dependent on amphetamine injections, the real reason - according to his longtime personal physician - for JFK’s notorious libido, how the tragic death of their infant son Patrick led to an emotional outpouring from the president that surprised even their closest friends - and brought JFK and Jackie closer than they had ever been, and touching firsthand accounts of the family’s most private moments, before and after the assassination.

Drawing on hundreds of interviews conducted with the Kennedys’ inner circle - from family members and lifelong friends to key advisers and political confidants - Andersen takes us deeper inside the world of the president and his first lady than ever before. Unsparing yet sympathetic, bigger than life but all too real, These Few Precious Days captures the ups and downs of a marriage, a man, and a woman, the memories of which will continue to fascinate and inspire for generations to come.

©2013 Christopher Andersen (P)2013 Blackstone Audio

A fascinating perspective

What did you love best about These Few Precious Days?

I could stop listening to this book. It provided a unique and fascinating perspective on this legendary couple, but simultaneously humanized them in a way that I have not experienced in any other books on this topic. They are portrayed as two beautiful, intelligent, and flawed individuals navigating both personal and historical highs and lows. It was incredibly interesting, beautiful, and tragic - just like "September Song" the poignant song which gives the book its title.

What was one of the most memorable moments of These Few Precious Days?

Of course there were many memorable excerpts, but the part that spoke the most to me was how the tragic loss of their newborn, Patrick, brought them closer than ever in the months before the assassination.

What does Robertson Dean bring to the story that you wouldn’t experience if you just read the book?

Robertson Dean was the perfect narrator for this book, in my opinion. It required his unque combination of sensitivity and gravitas.

Was there a moment in the book that particularly moved you?

It was all very moving.

Any additional comments?

I really enjoyed this book even though it was so heartbreaking.

Amazing

Excellent. I am a JFKophile and came away with many personal and intimate details of his life with Jackie I never had read before. Well done!

Behind the Kennedys

Would you consider the audio edition of These Few Precious Days to be better than the print version?

I have not read the print edition.

What was one of the most memorable moments of These Few Precious Days?

The book has a number of highlights as Andersen digs deeply into the personal and political team that was Jack and Jackie Kennedy. It is full of telling insights and fascinating anecdotes. As a history of a marriage and a family, it offers the reader little in way of the nation's larger events of the time--Vietnam, the civil rights movement, Cuba, and other contemporary issues. It delves into the president's sexual exploits in frank detail and reveals new information on Jackie's feelings about her husband and his many infidelities, seemingly carefully researched and sourced (I could not refer to a bibliography of notes, naturally).

Have you listened to any of Robertson Dean’s other performances before? How does this one compare?

Dean is always excellent. I look forward to his readings. "Masters of the Air" was especially fine.

Was this a book you wanted to listen to all in one sitting?

Yes, I listened on a business trip at every break in my work.

More salacious accounting of affairs throughout entire marriage, not just last year

The title subheading of this book clearly states that the book is intended to be about JFK & Jackie’s LAST year of marriage, but this book is really about their entire relationship, warts and warts and warts and all. If you want to learn about the many affairs of JFK, then this book has many names and places all queued up throughout the pages. But if you actually want an in-depth study on their marriage during the last year of JFK’s life, a pivotal time when his Presidency matured, when they lost their son Patrick shortly after his birth, when they became closer in marriage than any other time, then only the last 1/4 of this book is what you are wanting to read. Even then, it still includes far too many tangents about affairs, but maybe that is what sells books. I wish the author had actually spent more time researching their final year together as I do believe that would be a book worthy of 100% of the pages and not just 25%.

The performance of the narrator was excellent..he was great at voice changes for different people quoted throughout the book. Thank you for making the effort in doing this, that does take a true skill to do!

Enjoyed the tale of Camelot.

Lots of interesting information in a enjoyable format about Camelot's, John and Jackie Kennedy's life