Hey, where is the second volume?

Late in 1992, Nigel Hamilton's book JFK: Reckless Youth appeared in book stores and book clubs. Though it drew mixed reviews such as this one, and this reaction from historian Doris Kearns Goodwin, it also garnered praise from the likes of this LA Times review; and sales were brisk. It promptly was snapped up for television by ABC and became a 1993 miniseries starring Patrick Dempsey in a fine turn as the young JFK. And Hamilton promised more: Reckless Youth was only volume one of what would be a multi-volume biography of the 35th president.

Then no second volume ever appeared, much less a third. Hamilton himself says at the end of this article: "I'm not promising to write JFK 2 -- but one day, I might!"  Is that all you have to say about another volume in your Kennedy bio, Mr. Hamilton? Apparently, yes.

This is not unheard of. Lyndon B. Johnson wanted to do a multi-volume autobiography; only one volume about his presidential years entitled The Vantage Point ever appeared.  Frank Norris intended to create a "Trilogy of Wheat" dealing with wheat farmers and the trials they had to endure at the hands of monopolistic railroads.  He completed only two: The Octopus and The Pit.

There are a number of reasons this happens. The Kennedy family hated JFK: Reckless Youth; no wonder Nigel Hamilton plays it coy about another volume. Lyndon Johnson died before he could do two more books. And Frank Norris apparently ran into sheer writer's block. Their incomplete volumes are unfortunate, but not a tragic loss to literature. Sometimes the multi-volume book takes off, other times it fizzles for reasons like that listed above, and others. Have you ever read a multi-volume book that did not come to pass? If so, what was its title, and what was it about?  

Image courtesy JFK Book Collection.