Kate Storey at Harvard Book Store

Harvard Book Store welcomes KATE STOREY—senior features editor at Rolling Stone—for a discussion of her new book White House by the Sea: A Century of the Kennedys at Hyannis Port. She will be joined in conversation by Boston Globe contributor JOSEPH P. KAHN.

Update on Event Masking Policies

Masks are not required for this event. As of June 1, 2023, masks are encouraged but not required for most Harvard Book Store events, unless otherwise specified. Please review individual listings.

About White House by the Sea

Hyannis Port, Massachusetts, is synonymous with the Kennedy family. It is where, for a hundred years, America’s most storied political family has come to celebrate, bond, play, and, also, grieve. It is also the setting of so many events we remember: JFK giving his presidential acceptance speech, Jackie speaking with a Life magazine reporter just days after her husband’s assassination, Senator Edward Kennedy seeking refuge after the Chappaquiddick crash, Maria Shriver and Arnold Schwarzenegger tying the knot—and even Conor Kennedy courting pop star Taylor Swift. Anyone who has lived in, worked at, or visited the Kennedy compound in Hyannis Port has had a front-row view to history. Now, with extraordinary access to the Kennedy family—and featuring more than fifty rarely-seen images—journalist Kate Storey gives us a remarkably intimate and poignant look at the rhythms of an American dynasty.

Drawing from more than a hundred conversations with family members, friends, neighbors, household and security staff, Storey delivers a rich and textured account of the Kennedys’ lives in their summer refuge. From the 1920s, when Rose and Joseph P. Kennedy rented then bought a home known as The Malcolm Cottage, to today, when many Kennedys have purchased their own homes surrounding what’s now called The Big House, this book delivers many surprising revelations across the decades, including what matriarch Rose considered the family’s greatest tragedy, the rivalrous relationship between brothers Jack and Joe, details about Jackie’s life at the compound, and previously unknown glimpses into JFK Jr. and Carolyn Bessette’s loving and ill-fated relationship.

Fascinating, engaging, and illuminating, White House by the Sea provides a sweeping history of an American dynasty that has left an indelible mark on our nation’s politics and culture.

Praise for White House by the Sea

“A resplendent stirring of nostalgia . . . Cape Cod has never had a book worthy of its romance with the Kennedys, nor have the Kennedys had one that does justice to their courtship with the peninsula they transformed into America's Playground—until now. Thanks, Kate Storey, for telling so well a story of who we were in a simpler era, and for making so clear why that story remains so resonant.” —Larry Tye, New York Times bestselling author of Bobby Kennedy: The Making of a Liberal Icon

“Impeccably researched, Kate Storey's White House by the Sea is an irresistible invitation to spend time with America's First Family over decades of magical summertimes. Captivating!” —Elin Hilderbrand, author of The Hotel Nantucket

“Kate Storey has given us a treat, bringing to life the vibrant comings and goings of the Kennedy clan in the Cape Cod refuge where they gathered to relax, celebrate birthdays, and devise presidential election strategy—as well as find solace during times of tragedy and terrible loss. Intimate, personal, and showing a keen eye for detail, White House by the Sea offers illuminating “if these walls could talk” stories, affirming how a house can stand like a witness tree, enduring silently as a family lives through its most public and private moments.” —Kate Clifford Larson, New York Times bestselling author of Rosemary: The Hidden Kennedy Daughter