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There were times in America when politics and government seemed a lot less crazy and chaotic than they are today. It would be hard to make the case that those were better times. There were terrible wars and a Depression and a lot more racism and misogyny than we see today. But throughout much of those times Americans could feel that their country stood for something good and positive, and that despite the myriad problems, we were on our way to a better future. Bob’s guest has written a book that chronicles those times via the life of a man who played an outsized role in politics, government, big business, and even Hollywood. The book is “The Patriarch: The Remarkable Life and Turbulent Times of Joseph P. Kennedy,” and the author is David Nasaw, a distinguished professor of history at The CUNY Graduate Center.

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