A Time it Was: Bobby Kennedy in the Sixties by Bill Eppridge
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Book Reviews of A Time it Was: Bobby Kennedy in the Sixties
Book Review: Back to The Future
Summary: 4 Stars
This book and its images were all the more gripping having been an observer at the time. The photos and the words provide an image of a nation trying to be the sum of its promise, only to be plunged into a tragic self assessment after the assassination.
It is paramount, 40 years later, that we take the opportunity to remember how far we have come. This book reminds us that we can do better, that we must do better, that we are better.
Book Review: Great pics!
Summary: 4 Stars
Bought this for my dad for father's day. Great pictures of a memorable time in history with a visonary who lost his light too soon!
Book Review: a time it was
Summary: 4 Stars
it's photgraphs of the campain are stunning the brief narrative gives a true sense of sumer 1968Book Review: Photographs, Lies, and Videotape
Summary: 1 Stars
First, I caution against relying on any book written 40 years after an incident as people tend to embellish and make false statements. For an unbiased account of Bob's campaign then Jack Newfield's RFK: A Memoir, is a must read.
When it comes to photography Steve Shapiro has published some excellent work involving Kennedy. No one book seems to have it all. A Time it Was left me feeling sad and angry as it goes against many of the values Kennedy stood for. On a side note, he always asked to be called Bob, and so I do out of respect.
One of the first things that stands out with this book is Pete Hamill's assertation that Bob was killed by a lone assassin. This is not very consistent with what Bill Eppridge later writes. Hamill sees his young daughter's anxiousness over him leaving town to join the campaign as a bad omen. I brace myself for more exaggerations. Several pages later some really poor proofreading becomes notable regarding events in Kennedy's hotel room the night he died.
Then there's the outright lying. Bill Eppridge claims that in L.A.'s Chinatown firecrackers were actually "thrown at" the campaign convertable, that Bob "froze in terror", dove for the floor of the car, and that there is no film footage of this incident. Apparently no one was interested in doing any fact checking.
Bob was traveling through Chinatown and standing upright with Ethel while reaching out to greet the crowd. In the distance some firecrackers went off. Ethel ducked back into the safety of the car and Bob looked down at her with a look of disappointment/disapproval. He was calm and made no attempt to shield himself. This event was filmed, I have a digital copy, and it has been showcased on PBS.
Eppridge offers no apologies or justifications for taking the infamous photo of Kennedy lying on the floor after being shot. In fact, the author admits that while the bus boy cried out for help, he snapped another frame. The miraculous survival of the original photograph in a fire - in spite of carelessness - is simply dismissed.
Perhaps it was God's way of trying to tell Mr. Eppridge something. It's never about the truth when it comes to books on the Kennedy's but rather about the profit that can be made from exploitation or exaltation.