Presidential Recordings-John F. Kennedy: The Great Crises (Three Book Boxed Set) by Miller Center of Public Affairs (Univ. of VA), Ernest R. May (Editor), Philip D. Zelikow (Editor), Timothy Naftali (Editor)

From the Publisher

These volumes provide a unique glimpse into the real workings of the Kennedy White House, presenting perhaps the most reliable record of the Kennedy presidency ever published. In the summer of 1962, President John F. Kennedy installed a secret taping system in the White House. His aim was to record meetings and conversations he considered important, probably intending to use them when he wrote the memoir of his years in office, a book he never had the chance to write. The tapes are now being authoritatively transcribed, and those for the period from the installation of the tape system through October 28, 1962 (the end of the Cuban missile crisis), are presented here in their entirety.

Publishers Weekly

Scholars Timothy Naftali, Philip Zelikow and Ernest May, in collaboration with the University of Virginia's Miller Center of Public Affairs, present the first three volumes of The Presidential Recordings: John F. Kennedy, Volumes 1-3, the Great Crises, transcripts of recently declassified recordings of White House meetings, annotated by various scholars. Multimedia CD-ROMs containing the audio recordings and official notes are also included. Readers and listeners will be privy to Oval Office debates behind decisions about the Berlin crisis, the Cuban missile crisis, the Old Miss civil rights events and many other key moments in the domestic and international politics of the early 1960s. Opinions, advice, quips, arguments and questions come straight from the mouths of such key players as Gen. Douglas MacArthur, Dwight D. Eisenhower, JFK and Robert Kennedy. Politicos and professional and scholars will be delighted to have access to this material. (Sept.) Copyright 2001 Cahners Business Information.

Library Journal

These initial volumes of the declassified tapes of the Kennedy administration have been skillfully edited and annotated by a team of historians, led by Zelikow, Timothy Naftali, and Ernest R. May. The hefty transcripts illuminate the events from July through October 1962, primarily the violent desegregation of the University of Mississippi, followed almost immediately by the Cuban Missile Crisis. Zelikow and May acknowledge that this transcription of the Missile Crisis, which takes up the entire third volume and then some, is more accurate than the one they offered in their praised The Kennedy Tapes because the current one was transcribed by a team of specialists. Accompanying the volumes is an interactive CD-ROM that allows the user to sit in on the discussions by clicking on dates of the events in question. Unlike the Lyndon Johnson tapes, expertly edited by Michael Beschloss in Taking Charge (S. & S., 1997), which are transcriptions of telephone conversations, the Kennedy transcriptions are of actual meetings concerning some of the most harrowing events of the Cold War. The editors succeed admirably in achieving their goal of providing insight into the decision making and crisis management of the Kennedy years. An important addition to the literature of the Kennedy presidency; highly recommended. [For a related story, see p. 96.--Ed.]--Karl Helicher, Upper Merion Twp. Lib., King of Prussia, PA Copyright 2001 Cahners Business Information.

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