Just when you thought you knew everything you needed to know about the Kennedys, along come a pair of books that prove they're as fascinating, and relevant, as ever.

The first is The Last Campaign (Henry Holt and Co.), Thurston Clarke's account of Robert Kennedy's 82-day quest for the White House in 1968. An engrossing history on its own, the book is all the more compelling for the obvious parallels to today. Like Barack Obama, Kennedy made a lightning run from long shot to presumptive nominee based largely on his ability to inspire and tap into opposition to an unpopular war. Writes Clarke of a Kennedy foreign-policy speech, "Substitute 'Iraq' for 'Vietnam' and 'terrorist' for 'Communist,' and the speech becomes one that four decades later a presidential candidate could deliver verbatim."

But it's also interesting to note where the similarities to Obama end. In many ways, RFK was the far more radical candidate, and the degree to which he championed the causes of the poor and working class actually has more in common with the campaign of Hillary Clinton.

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