Rosemary: The Hidden Kennedy Daughter
(Libby/OverDrive eAudiobook)

Born in September 1918, Rose and Joe Kennedy's daughter Rosemary was deemed slow and was thus a disappointment to her parents as well as a mystery. Words, from idiots to morons, for intellectually disabled humans as well as treatments were often lacking, disputed, and not much help, even for those with ample money, such as the Kennedys. By 16, in her third special school in five years, Rosemary could write home (charming, simplistic letters, many reproduced here), but despite the individualized help she was given, as Larson notes, the truth was she couldn't really do any better. Larson's well-researched and fascinating history includes Kennedy anecdotes as well as major developments in American life (e.g., Spanish influenza, the Great Depression, the beginning of the divide between the haves and the have-nots) in a depiction of one family's decisions regarding a special daughter, whose ill-advised lobotomy rendered her nearly broken, physically and mentally. Heartbreaking and illuminating, this will serve not only Kennedy fans but also those curious about the history of disabilities in the U.S.--Kinney, Eloise Copyright 2015 Booklist

Historian Larson (The Assassin's Accomplice) provides an engrossing biography of the firstborn of the Kennedy daughters, -Rosemary (1918-2005). This younger sister of John F. Kennedy exhibited developmental delays from an early age. The author makes it evident that an understanding of special needs, especially those of children, was sorely lacking in the early 20th century. Using new sources, such as private diaries and letters, Larson conveys the challenges the family faced in caring for Rosemary and proceeds to detail how the Kennedy family chose to hide her condition and present her to the world as an intellectual peer of their other children. Also described is the decision to have Rosemary lobotomized in her early twenties, how the family concealed the procedure's devastating effects from the public, and family patriarch Joseph P. Kennedy Sr.'s decision to institutionalize Rosemary and keep her separated from the family for more than 20 years. Elizabeth Koehler-Pentacoff's The Missing Kennedy (reviewed above) provides greater detail on these latter years. VERDICT This expertly researched work offers a candid examination of a once-forgotten member of one of America's most famous families. It will appeal to Kennedy devotees and readers interested in society's evolving understanding of the intellectually and physically disabled. [See Prepub Alert, 5/17/15.]-Mary Jennings, Camano Island Lib., WA © Copyright 2015. Library Journals LLC, a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.

In-depth coverage of one Kennedy daughter who never gained the spotlight like her siblings. Born the third child to Joseph and Rose Kennedy, Rosemary was slower to develop mentally than her siblings, thanks to an unnecessarily prolonged birth. Throughout her early childhood and adolescence, her mental disabilities were kept hidden from the press and those outside the family, enabling Rosemary to attend prestigious private schools, to be presented to the king and queen of England, and to enjoy a life full of social events. However, as she entered her early 20s, her inability to function like others her age and her unruly behavior presented increasing difficulties for her family, all of whom were in the limelight in one form or another. In order to suppress Rosemary's mental health issues, her father ordered her to undergo a prefrontal lobotomy, an experimental operation at the time that had little conclusive evidence of its effectiveness. The results were drastic and completely damaging. Larson does an excellent job of portraying the Kennedy family, providing ample background on the political and economic rise of Joe Sr., the obsessions with weight and the need for solitude of Rose, the role the parents played in Rosemary's life and the effect this had on her, and the interactions among Rosemary and her siblings. The author presents a well-rounded portrait of Rosemary before the lobotomy, a beautiful young woman full of spunk and love, and the destruction of that vibrant person as a result of the operation. Larson goes on to discuss how Rosemary's younger sister, Eunice, used the family's considerable wealth to fund research and services for the mentally disabled, a cause she avidly supported because of her sister. A well-researched, entertaining, and illuminating biography that should take pride of place over another recent Rosemary bio, Elizabeth Koehler-Pentacoff's The Missing Kennedy. Copyright Kirkus Reviews, used with permission.