This book is a detective story.

It is an investigation of one of the great mysteries of our time---the Kennedy Curse. It explores the underlying pattern that governs the curse and examines the many influences--historical, psychological, and genetic--that have shaped the Kennedys' character and led to their self-defeating behavior.  The stories in this book illustrate how the Kennedy Curse began in the common Irish immigrant experience of poverty and humiliation, and developed into an obsessive lust for power and dominance over others at the expense of all ethical behavior.

Death was merciful to Jacqueline Kennedy Onassis, for it spared her a parent's worst nightmare: the loss of a child. But if Jackie had lived to see her son, JFK Jr., perish in a plane crash on his way to his cousin's wedding, she would have been doubly horrified by the familiar pattern in the tragedy.Once again, on a day that should have been full of joy and celebration, America's first family was struck by the Kennedy Curse. Drawing upon scores of interviews with people who have never spoken out before, troves of private documents,archives in Ireland and America, and private conversations with Jackie, renowned Kennedy biographer Edward Klein explores the underlying pattern that governs the Kennedy Curse. The reader is treated to penetrating portraits of:

The Irish immigrant Patrick Kennedy

Rose Kennedy's father, "Honey Fitz"

The dynasty's founding father Joe Kennedy,and his ill-fated daughter Kathleen

President Kennedy

Accused rapist William Kennedy Smith

Star-crossed lovers JFK Jr. and Carolyn Bessette

...and more.

In this probing expose, Edward Klein--a bestselling author and journalist personally acquainted with many members of the Kennedy family--unravels one of the great mysteries of our time and explains why the Kennedys have been subjected to such a mind-boggling chain of calamities.

Introduction: An Ill-Fated House

A Chronicle of the Kennedy Curse

PART I SCOURGE

1. PATRICK KENNEDY: The Unintentional Crime

2. JOHN FRANCIS FITZGERALD: Favorite Son

PART II AFFLICTION

3. JOSEPH PATRICK KENNEDY:peaking the Langtuage of His Age

PART III TRIBULATION

4. KATHLEEN KENNEDY: Throwing Caution to the Wind

5. JOHN FITZGERALD KENNEDY: The Road to Dallas

PART IV VISITATION

6. WILLIAM KENNEDY SMITH: Twilight of the Gods

7. JOHN FITZGERALD KENNEDY JR.:Cut from the Same Cloth

Epilogue: The Fall of the House of Kennedy

Acknowledgments

Sources

Notes

Index