Response to my new book, “Camelot’s End,” have been overwhelmingly positive, with an emphasis on the way the narrative has brought to life Ted Kennedy and Jimmy Carter and the differences between them. I’ve been thrilled to talk about the book on NPR’s “Fresh Air,” “Morning Joe,” “KasieDC,” and a variety of other formats across regional public radio, SiriusXM, and podcasts.
One criticism has come up a few times that I thought was worth addressing. Some have taken issue with the subtitle of the book, which says that the 1980 Democratic primary “broke the Democratic Party.”
David Shribman, reviewing the book in The Washington Post, praised the book as a “fast-paced, even-handed” narrative, and an “instructive volume for those too young to have witnessed one of the more fascinating passages in American political life.” Shribman’s one quibble: the subtitle was an “inflation” of what happened.
Shribman says that the Democrats were a broken party whether or not Kennedy and Carter fought their bitter battle in 1980.
“There is little likelihood … Carter would have defeated Reagan” if Kennedy had not run against him in 1980, Shribman writes. Walter Mondale’s defeat in the 1984 election, he says, “exposed how broken was the party [sic] — captive of special interests, of New Deal nostrums discredited a generation…
