Becoming Bobby Kennedy

Join us in the Library Meeting Room for a night with author B.J. Hollars as he shares his book, Becoming Bobby Kennedy: The Transformative Life of an American Icon What transforms privilege into purpose, ambition into empathy, and power into moral courage? Following his brother’s assassination, a grief-stricken Robert F. Kennedy embarked on a series of unexpected journeys far beyond the insulated world of wealth and Washington. He climbed Canada’s Mount Kennedy, traveled through apartheid-era South Africa, descended into Chilean coal mines, explored the Amazon, and witnessed crushing poverty in the Mississippi Delta, eastern Kentucky, and on the Pine Ridge Reservation. Together, these experiences transformed him from a silver-spooned rich kid into a champion for the poor and oppressed. Join B. J. Hollars for an intimate, character-driven look at Bobby Kennedy’s moral awakening—and discover why his vision of an America rooted in peace, empathy, and equality still resonates today. B.J. Hollars is the author of several books, including Wisconsin for Kennedy: The Primary That Launched a President and Changed The Course of History, which was the 2025 winner of the Midwest Book Awards (History/Regional). Hollars is the recipient of an Upper Midwest Emmy® award, the Truman Capote Prize for Literary Nonfiction, the Anne B. and James B. McMillan Prize, the Council of Wisconsin Writers' Blei-Derleth Award, among others. He is a professor of English at the University of Wisconsin-Eau Claire, and a columnist for The Leader-Telegram.