SOURCE: "JFK: A Memoir and More," in The New York Times Book Review, November 28, 1965, pp. 1, 84.

In the following review, Burns praises Schlesinger's A Thousand Days for its scholarship, its encyclopedic account of events, and "diamond-bright" portraits of White House and Congressional leaders. However, Burns contends that the broad scope of the book prevents any significant indepth analysis of the Kennedy era.

More than any other people, perhaps, Americans like to leave issues to the "verdict of history." When some problem seems too opaque or some leader too inscrutable, we comfort ourselves with the thought that some day the historians will decide the merits of the case or take the final measure of the man. The trouble is that historians never come in with a final verdict; usually they are a hung jury. History is written by the survivors—but new generations bring new survivors.

The great historian combines...