Abraham Lincoln is our most written about president, but if he had only served for a thousand days, it’s doubtful that he could have inspired as many books as John F. Kennedy.

Much of what was written about JFK in the two decades after his death can be put under the heading of hagiography, written by people too close to the Kennedy family to be objective – “ honorary Kennedys, ” in the words of some critics, “ bent on perpetuating the Kennedy legend. ”

More recently historians and journalists have been able to focus on his strengths and deficiencies as a man and a president. Here are five by writers with no direct ties to the Kennedys that put JFK ’ s family, life and legacy into perspective.