American Son; A Portrait of John F. Kennedy, Jr.

New York: Henry Holt and Company, 2002. First Edition [stated]. Third Printing [stated]. Hardcover. Very good/Very good. [10], 294 pages. Autographed sticker on front of the DJ. Slight wear and soiling to DJ. Signed by the author on title page. Richard Bradley (born Richard Blow; 1964) is an American writer and journalist. Bradley graduated from Yale University in 1986, and began working at The New Republic in Washington, D.C., followed by Regardie's magazine. He then earned a master's degree in American history from Harvard University. Bradley returned to Regardie's in 1992 as editor-in-chief and became one of the original editors of George magazine in 1995. He was the executive editor of "George" at the time of John F. Kennedy Jr.'s death in a plane crash on July 16, 1999. His first book, American Son, about John F. Kennedy Jr. and George magazine, was a nonfiction bestseller, reaching #1 on the nonfiction New York Times Bestseller List. The book generated controversy because Bradley was alleged to have violated a confidentiality agreement by writing it. David Carr wrote in The New York Times that "'Richard Blow' became a synonym for publishing ambition, the very portrait of a man who saw his chance and took it. Some critics claimed that Mr. Bradley fired two George writers, Lisa DePaulo and Douglas Brinkley, for speaking to the press about their infinitely famous boss after Mr. Kennedy's death in 1999 and then turned around to write his own account." Blow responded that while he had requested staff members not to speak to the press, it was at the apparent request of John's sister, Caroline Kennedy. He changed his surname from Blow to Bradley (his mother's maiden name). The author was an editor of Regardie's magazine and later was on the staff of George. When Blow started at George magazine as one of the original staffers, he had to agree to a confidentiality agreement not to write about his boss, John F. Kennedy Jr. Although some disagree, Blow obviously feels that the agreement he agreed to did not extend beyond death, hence this personal portrait. The last defining years of John F. Kennedy, Jr. At thirty-four, John F. Kennedy, Jr. was still a man in search of his destiny. In 1995, all that changed when Kennedy launched George, a bold and irreverent magazine about American politics. Over the next four years, Kennedy's passionate commitment to the magazine-- and to the ideals it stood for-- transformed him. One witness to this transformation was Richard Blow, an editor and writer who joined George several months before the release of its first issue. During their four years together, Blow observed his boss rise to enormous challenges-- starting a risky new business, managing the pressures that attend a high public profile, and beginning life as a married man. In American Son, with Blow as our guide, we see the many sides of Kennedy's personality: the rebel who fearlessly takes on politicians and pundits; the gentleman who sends gracious thank-you notes to his colleagues for their wedding gifts; the vulnerable son struggling under the weight of a mythic family legacy. Simply and sympathetically, Richard Blow offers an affecting portrait of a complicated man at last coming into his own-- sometimes gracefully, sometimes under siege, never without the burden of great expectations.