J. F. K.'s First Book

Kennedy, John F. ~ Why England Slept

First UK Printing : Hutchinson & Co., London : 1940

8vo., pink cloth with publisher’s name diagonally in black across lower corner of front board; lettered in black along spine; in the unclipped dust wrapper (3/6 net) with a design featuring a union jack and review from the Sunday Express; THE BOOK very good; the pages evenly toned, as usual, endpapers a little spotted and offset; with previous ownership name and address in blue ink pen to front free endpaper; the good DUST WRAPPER, seldomly found, faded along the backstrip, with creases and nicks, and larger chips along spine, extending into the panels with some loss; two longer closed tears to spine (2.5cm approx), and one (4 cm approx) to the front panel. The wrapper is protected in a removable Brodart archival cover. First UK edition of Kennedy’s first book, which began life as his undergraduate thesis at Harvard. The title is a thinly-veiled allusion to Churchill’s While England Slept (1938), which also examined the development of German power. Kennedy first began writing on world affairs in the 1930s, while studying in his senior year. Originally entitled ‘Appeasement at Munich’, Kennedy was encouraged by his father to publish as a full-length work, and allowed him to enlist the help of Henry Luce (magazine magnate who founded Time, Life and Fortune) to write the Forward, and Arthur Krock (Pulitzer-prize winning journalist), to help redraft the thesis. Upon publication, the book sold over 80,000 copies, and was later printed in 1961 when the author became president. Analysing England's unpreparedness for war, Kennedy noted the shortcomings of democracy and the British Government when confronted by the dangers of totalitarianism. In particular, it focuses on the United Kingdom’s disastrous policies of appeasement between 1937-1939, and served as a warning to Americans who believed that remaining neutral in the face of war was a viable option.

BINDING: Hardcover
CONDITION: Very Good
JACKET: Good