Kennedy Through the Lens

Kennedy

Through the Lens

By Martin Sandler

Walker Publishing Co

Copyright 2011

pp.96

Kennedy Through the Lens

Nonfiction Biography

     This is a fascinating, modern book about the life of John F. Kennedy and the events that shaped his presidency. The book relives the events of Kennedy’s life through the use of many extraordinary photographs. Kennedy was one of the first Presidents to embrace the new technologies of the time, color photography and television. While there had been many photographs of previous Presidents, Kennedy was the first to appoint an official White House photographer. This national appointment led to many informal, candid photographs of the President and his family. These photographs allowed the public an up close and personnel view of the President’s life, and they became enchanted with his charming personality. Kennedy knew how to use the media to his advantage and thus endeared himself and his presidency to the American public for generations. After reading this book, I began to wonder if Kennedy’s use of the media was the beginning of the relentless media scrutiny that exists in our country now.

     The book briefly touches on Kennedy’s early life, but most of the focus is on his time as President of the United States and the events that occurred during this time. Each two page spread has a full page photograph on the right hand side and text, along with a smaller photograph on the left hand side. I believe this helps to illustrate the importance of the photographs. The iconic photographs helped me to better understand the text and gave me a deeper insight into the emotions of the time period. I particular enjoyed the photographs of his children in the oval office. Kennedy was not only a President, who was assassinated; he was also someone’s husband and father. Being a parent myself, I could feel the pain of everyone involved.

     The book also uses many of Kennedy’s famous and inspiring quotes under each section heading. Each quote is significant to the section and helped to give a better awareness and appreciation of text. The end of the book has several sections one can further his or her learning about Kennedy. The author mentions several websites, which is very beneficial to today’s twenty-first century learner. I feel this book is a must have for any project on John F. Kennedy because of its unique use of photographs, quotes, and additional resources provided.