Product Description

A biography of Jacqueline Kennedy Onassis.

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #538467 in Books
• Published on: 1991-10-09
• Original language: English
• Number of items: 1
• Binding: Paperback
• 1 pages

From Publishers Weekly
A controversial bestseller, this is an unauthorized biography of former first lady Jacqueline Kennedy Onassis. Photos.
Copyright 1990 Reed Business Information, Inc.

Customer Reviews

A Good Read, but be prepared for the ugly truth...
...that JFK's Presidency and marriage to Jackie were not romantic fairytales. Heymann has done an impressive amount of interviews and research, and while some readers may argue with his interpretation of certain events, there's no doubt that he's done his homework. This book follows Jackie from her surprisingly unhappy childhood, which was marked by an ugly divorce between her dashing yet womanizing and big-spending father and her uptight, social-climbing and rather cold mother. Jackie was a definite daddy's girl - she adored her father and never seemed to care too much for her mother or the second man she married, wealthy stockbroker Hugh Auchincloss. Thereafter comes the familiar story - she grows into a beautiful and sophisticated young woman (who emphasizes her father's French ancestry and ignores her mother's Irish heritage), attends the best women's private schools in the US and France, becomes engaged to a nice yet boring young stockbroker; but then breaks off the engagement when she begins dating a sexy and exciting US Senator who just happens to come from a wealthy family - John F. Kennedy. Then comes the high-society wedding, the rocky marriage (made so by Jack's constant cheating and Jackie's aloofness from her in-laws), her glamorous tour as First Lady, the assassination, and finally her controversial marriage to the crude yet wealthy Greek shipping magnate Aristotle Onassis. Although Heymann tries to be objective and fair to his subject, the book does seem to emphasize the flaws and dark sides of Jack and Jackie. Some readers who have a romantic view of Jackie may not want to read this book, as it will definitely destroy your romantic view of her. Yet while she had her flaws, there's no denying her now-legendary poise during her husband's funeral or her outstanding role in raising her two children to be good citizens and good people. Overall, this is an engrossing warts-and-all biography of one of the most famous women of the twentieth century.

Fascinating!
This gives you everything you've ever wanted to know about Jackie Onasis. It also mentions on the first page that Jackie's mother's family were "lace curtain Irish." Many people mistakenly believe that Jackie was all French, but she was actually half French. Her mother's family emigrated from Cork, Ireland, and her grandfather had a rags to riches story. That wealth is the main reason that Jack Bouvier married Jackie's mother, Janet Lee. The whole book is exciting, and I would recommend it to anyone.

Much, much better than I had expected
As a British reader born after the 1960s I did not really know that much about Jacqueline Kennedy Onassis. A friend gave me this book and I began to read it out of a sense of duty. By the end of the first chapter I was hooked! I thought this was an exceptionally well written and researched biography that gives a very balanced view of a fascinating personality and period. The background to the Onassis wedding and the sections on JFK are especially good. It has left me wanting to read more about America in the 60s.