All This Marvelous Potential (A Review)

The 1960s were a tumultuous time in America. There were changes that seemed to be happening virtually everyday. The war in Vietnam was an issue that seemed to touch every American family, rioting consumed many American cities, and in the mountains of Appalachia coal was beginning to lose its’ place as the main piece of the economic foundation of a region already beset with poverty and inequality. This Marvelous Potential: Robert Kennedy’s 1968 Tour of Appalachia (Chicago: Chicago Review Press, 2020, xv, 264 pgs., $28.99, $38.99), by Matthew Algeo, chronicles Senator Robert F. Kennedy’s…