Counselor: A Life at the Edge of History - Tapa dura

"This is an important book, and it's also a poignant one. As Jackie Kennedy once said of a speech that Ted Sorensen gave about her husband, it captures not only the soul of John Kennedy but also the soul of Sorensen. This clear-eyed but loving memoir is fascinating." -- Walter Isaacson "Ted Sorensen's Counselor is that rare gift to history: an account of mighty events by a participant who stood at their heart, and a writer masterful enough to make us understand them as well." -- Robert Caro "Ted Sorensen's words inspired a generation, and his counsel and judgment helped steer our nation through some of its most difficult hours. This gripping, candid memoir illuminates a revered era in American history. Sorensen has written a book that will be cherished for generations." -- Barack Obama "Ted Sorensen has given us a very welcome up close and personal view of life and politics at the side of John F. Kennedy. There are fresh insights and enduring lessons for this and future generations to study and embrace. And painful memories of what we lost." -- Tom Brokaw "With eloquence and honesty, Sorensen takes us on a tour of many of the most important moments of the second half of the American Century, from who wrote 'Profiles in Courage' to the Cuban Missile Crisis to Dallas and its terrible aftermath. This is an illuminating and engaging book." -- Jon Meacham

In January 1953, the newly-elected Senator John F. Kennedy hired a young Nebraskan lawyer named, Theodore Sorensen as his legislative assistant. Sorensen quickly rose up the ranks in JFK's senate office, from research aide to speechwriter to campaigner and advisor, eventually working closely with JFK on his speeches and books, including "Profiles in Courage", and encouraging JFK's interest in the vice presidential nomination. Though JFK's pursuit of that nomination fell short at the 1956 Democratic Convention, he had emerged as a prominent national figure; and JFK and Sorensen traveled over the next three years to all fifty states exploring his prospects for the presidential nomination in 1960.Upon his election, Kennedy appointed Sorensen as his Special Counsel, a role that allowed him to serve as the President's own lawyer, speechwriter, and trusted confidante. Sorensen recounts in thrilling detail his experience advising JFK through some of the most dramatic moments in American history, including the Bay of Pigs and the Cuban Missile Crisis, when JFK requested that Sorensen draft a letter to Khrushchev at the most critical point of the world's first nuclear confrontation. Sorensen was immersed in everything from civil rights to the decision to go to the moon, and he also had a hand in JFK's most important speeches.