Edward M. Kennedy has represented Massachusetts in the U.S. Senate for 47 years. In 2004, he began interviews at the Miller Center of the University of Virginia for an oral history project about his life. Since then, he has worked closely on this book with Pulitzer Prize winner Ron Powers, co-author of the bestseller Flags of Our Fathers and author of Mark Twain: A Life, a finalist for the National Book Critics Circle Award.