Product Description

Jacqueline Lee Bouvier and John Fitzgerald Kennedy captured the imagination of a nation from the day their names were linked. For the first time, the inner workings of this century's most guarded romance are divulged in this in-depth portrait of a marriage. Klein breaks through the wall of secrecy to reveal the true dynamic between the couple who built Camelot. Photos throughout.

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #2123536 in Books
• Published on: 1997-01
• Format: Large Print
• Original language: English
• Number of items: 1
• Binding: Hardcover
• 651 pages

Amazon.com Review
Edward Klein shows that, despite their glamorous public lives, the Kennedys were as human as the rest of us. Through details on the couple's most intimate moments, including Jackie's defloration in a Paris elevator, and her amusing, albeit catty, disposition (kept under wraps because of her political standing), the ivory tower of their existence seems less out of reach. With chapter titles such as "Indiscreet," "Love Lies Bleeding," and "Pleasure First" the book reads a bit like a romance novel, but with a biting touch of reality.

From Publishers Weekly
As Klein, a former editor of the New York Times Magazine, notes in the acknowledgments for his book, people who knew the Kennedys have been increasingly willing to talk about them since Jacqueline Kennedy Onassis's death?which means that a lot of what used to be gossipy conjecture is now being authoritatively fleshed out. Klein lists more than 200 people who agreed to be quoted with attribution for his book, and cites many more sources as well; what he has come up with can surely be regarded, therefore, as thoroughly vouched for. It is an extraordinary story, of the physically frail but sexually voracious President (among many ailments, according to Klein, was a longstanding venereal infection) in a battle of wills with a wife as determined to live her own life as he was to live his. Her passion as a mother seems to have been the only constant for her, having lost two children, one by miscarriage and the other at birth (the two others were born with difficulty); and the book begins and ends with her trying to ensure that John and Caroline hear only the best about their father. For Kennedy, despite all his charm, comes across as a ruthlessly selfish person who found close relationships, other than those with macho bragging companions, difficult. For all Klein's efforts to put some heart into the marriage?and it certainly seems clear that they were growing closer at the time the President was shot?much of their life together seems to have been inspired by opportunism on both sides. What will strike many readers is how emotionally difficult?"all too human"?the Kennedys were: he with his brash drive, his deep cynicism, his basic contempt for women (as learned from his father), she with her spoiled upbringing and passionate attachment to her own lamentable father. Klein's book is a swift, dramatic and colorful read, even if he hasn't painted quite the picture he seems to think he has. Photos not seen by PW. First serial to Vanity Fair; BOMC selection.
Copyright 1996 Reed Business Information, Inc.

From Library Journal
A former editor-in-chief of the New York Times Magazine chronicles the tragic relationship between JFK and Jackie.
Copyright 1996 Reed Business Information, Inc.

Customer Reviews

A great love story
I love biographies, and have read several on the Kennedy's. This is one of my favorites. It gives you a very in depth look at the real relationship between Jack and Jackie, which is, as the title says, "All Too Human". The book, which reads almost like a novel, starts with the first meeting of Jackie and Jack, and carries you all the way through until Jack was assassinated in November of 1963. Edward Klein was a personal friend of Jackie's for a number of years, which made him privy to alot of information. Some points of interest include Jack's affairs and womanizing, Jackie's feelings on being a politician's wife, Joe Kennedy's role in their relationship, how the death of their son, Patrick Bouvier Kennedy, brought Jack and Jackie closer than they'd ever been before, only to have it taken away on that fateful day in Dallas, and Jackie's relationship with her parents. Of course, there is a ton of other information in this book, but these are just a few. After reading this book, I read "Just Jackie: Her Private Years", which is also by Edward Klein. It picks up where "All Too Human" leaves off (shortly after the assassination of JFK). I highly recommend both books to anyone interested in reading about the Kennedys and Jackie O.

Unpresidented Prose
As of the most successful dynasties in American history, the Kennedy's have left an indelible mark on our nation unlike any other. Millions have proclaimed John to be a hero exemplifying American characterizes and Jackie exhibiting class beyond compare. Klein challenges the status quo by revealing the first family's moral devoidness throughout the course of their campaign and life in general. No longer worthy of the apotheosis so many Democrats have been attempting to bestow to the martyred president, rather a man with extreme moral vicissitude unforeseen by the watchful eye of the nation. Who would have ever thought that before the 1960 election Kennedy had been in the company of a young female to "relax" him before he took center stage against a nation of voters? John shines through as a hedonistic man looking to secure power and politics for his personal discourse. Jackie is seen as a modern day Anna Nichole Smith for her power and money-hungry ways in looking at Jack as a means to build upon herself even greater. Although these themes are a bit cynical and I don't agree with all of them, Klein writes with such chosen linguistics that simply reading will be candy to your eyes. If you are looking for a fun read recounting one of our nation's most memberable presidents All Too Human (or the John Stephanopoulos novel by the same name) are in a class by themselves.

A touching story.
This book tells the touching story of the relationship between Jack and Jackie Kennedy. It is well-written and is a sympathetic telling of their relationship. I enjoyed it very much - better than most of the books about the Kennedys on the market.