Customer Reviews

America's Queen: The Life of Jacqueline Kennedy Onassis

5 star:		(15)
4 star:		(15)
3 star:		(6)
2 star:		(4)
1 star:		(1)

 

 

A solid biography of a complex woman, Jackie Onassis. Bradford does her usual stellar job of peeking behind the curtain of mystery and into the lives of the rich and famous. This book makes a fine companion to her biographies of Princess Grace and Queen Elizabeth II. Bradford takes us from Jackie's earliest years as the adored eldest child of a wayward father, John Vernou "Black Jack" Bouvier; to the White House as the politically advantageous mate to an unfaithful John F. Kennedy; to Greece as the trophy wife of Greek tycoon Aristotle Onassis; and finally to the freedom and excitement of New York during Jackie's later years in the 70s and 80s.

We get to see behind the Kennedy mythology-Jack was as wayward as her father, and in retaliation, Jackie spent his money. Nanny Maud Shaw was pointedly left out of the many photo-exclusives the Kennedys gave to Life magazine, even though she was the main parental figure for Caroline and John, Jr. Coexisting in the First Lady was a woman who wore glamorous gowns and wowed dignitaries with her conversational skills and self-possessed manner, and a woman who smoked incessantly, hated campaigning, bit her fingernails to the quick, and was deeply wounded by her husband's infidelities.

Bradford's interviews are far-ranging: From Gloria Steinem to Jackie's younger sister Lee Radziwill, many of Jackie's acquaintances in Greece, Gore Vidal, her cousin John Davis, and some of her former flames, the people quoted in this book give us a glimpse of a privileged and often painful life. It is frankly stated that Jackie's repeated miscarriages and stillbirths were undoubtedly due contracting chlamydia from JFK. For years after the assassination of her husband, in odd moments Jackie would confide the hideous shock of holding parts of her husband's head in her hands. She had an embattled relationship with her mother, Janet Lee, and later with her sister, who was frustratingly left in the shadow of her sister's radiant beam. Many of the society wives who moved in Jackie's circle reported how possessive and flirtatious she was with their husbands. Far from being in love with Onassis (who had been having an affair with her sister), Jackie married him primarily for the security his vast fortune could afford her. Jackie was far more interested in championing the arts (her helping to start the foundation to restore the White House, her involvement in the campaign to save Grand Central Station), than in humanitarian and charitable causes, Bradford asserts.

This book could well have been subtitled "Iron Butterfly," as Jackie repeatedly gets what she wants (money, donations of antiquities to the White House, clothing) by being manipulative and irresistible at the same time. Yet despite not being the idealized version of herself we've all recognized over the years, Jackie is a fully-realized person in this book. I felt I knew more about her and her motivations after reading it, and not necessarily liking her any less for her flaws of character. The woman who stated her ambition in her Farmington yearbook as "Never to be a housewife" certainly exceeded that goal.

A good addition to your library-my only quibble would be for more attention to detail in the editing and more pictures we haven't already seen. Objective Jackie fans will not be disappointed in what, in the end, is a well-rounded portrait of an unforgettable woman.

Sarah Bradford has accomplished something quite wonderful ~ the Jacqueline Kennedy Onassis story told through perceptive, balanced, and caring eyes. If you thought there was little left to be said about the woman who captivated America and the world in the early 1960's, you should read this version of one of the most scrutinized life stories of the twentieth century.

Bradford has done a remarkable amount of research and distilled forty years worth of previously published writing into a compelling account. She augments her research with a large and impressive array of interviews with primary sources, including, for the first time on record, Jackie's sister, Lee Radzilwell.

And yet her account is riddled with nagging mistakes of tiny details, starting with the first sentance of the first chapter. Jackie was a thirty four year old widow in November 1963, not thirty five as stated. Small mistakes, yes, but God is in the details and it's a little jarring, undermining slightly her scholarly and well measured approach.

Nonetheless, her take on the life of "America's Queen" is riviting in its presentation and scope. Jackie emerges as both an icon and a person, a woman with a unique hold on our cultural psyche as well as a woman of the 1950's coming into her own through the years of a fascinating life.

A worthy addition to the Kennedy canon, and justifiably described as a "definative" biography.

I plowed through this thick paperback fairly quickly. Here and there the author gets bogged down with such details as to the addresses of people that are involved with Jackie. The beginning section that deals with Jackie's childhood reveals not only her knowledge in dealing with such men as her father, but explains how she survived the behavior of JFK. The part of the book that takes place just prior to the assasination brings to the reader a bittersweet explanation of how they had finally found a closeness with each other that was enjoyed all too briefly.

Jackie was criticized by the press, plagued by photographers and misunderstood by the Kennedy family. With her unique personality, she manages to rise above it all and give some semblance of normalcy to her life and that of her children.

After reading the book, while I understand her better, I can't say for sure that I would have enjoyed being her friend. Her emotions seemed a bit too volatile for comfort.

I give the book high marks. Clearly there has been intensive research done here. Except in one of the photos of Jackie leaving for the Inaugural Gala. That was the night of Jan. 19th, not the 20th.

This one is going on my bookshelf to stay with the rest of my first lady collection.

I highly recommend this biography of Jackie. It is, by far, the best I've read. Bradford shows us a real woman, not a myth, and there are so many stunning details. The personality of Jackie's mother particularly shocked me. How did Jackie survive the terrible, manipulative environment of her childhood? This biography highlighted such salient details, such as: - her mother's prevention of her being escorted down the aisle by her father on her wedding day; - Jackie and her sister Lee taking a back seat in the Auchincloss step family; - Jackie's unique contribution to American history through her championing of the arts (redecorating the White House, securing the Egyptian exhibit for the Metropolitan Museum of Art, preserving the Grand Central Station in NYC, and so much else) - Most of all, the strength of her marriage to JFK. Bradford did a better job than any other biographer, of explaining the complex and developing relationship between the two. I highly recommend this book!

I am fascinated by Jackie; I have read every biography of her out there and been disappointed because the authors couldn't hold my interest (and if they can't hold my interest with this subject how can they call themselves writers!). The one exception is the book by Stephen Birmingham, but even that pales in comparison to Bradford's book. Finally, someone who writes a compelling narrative and has genuine insight into her subject instead of dwelling on the tabloid aspects of Jackie's life. I have a later edition of this book and I have not noticed the typos and mistakes that are frequently mentioned in other reviews (perhaps they have been corrected?). The photos are well chosen and there are many new ones. A great book and a great read too.

There is a historical error in the first sentence. Mrs. Kennedy was a thirty-four year old widow in November, 1963, not thirty-five. It is nitpicking, yes, but then the rest of the book seems to be built upon our taking Bradford's research as thorough. For all of that, the image of Jackie is compelling, and struck this reader as accurate. She is less than convincing describing an affair between RFK and JBK, and her relationship with Lee Radziwill could stand with a bit more fleshing out; Bradford assumes we know more about it than surely most do. She also seems to lose interest in Onassis after the death of her second husband, and the last twenty years receive short shrift. But there is something here which keeps you turning pages, so I would recommend it, though not as much as Evan Thomas' new bio of RFK.

I have read so much about Jackie Kennedy that I wondered if this book would hold my interest, but it did. It was extremely detailed and there was much I did not know. I was actually sorry when I reached the last page!

I feel my time was well spent, in spite of some of the errors mentioned by other reviewers.

This elegant biography of Mrs. Kennedy-Onassis may very well be the most insightful work to gain a hold on this elusive American legend for some time to come. Unlike the many other Jackie biographies out there, this one is neither worshipful nor excessively fault-finding with its subject. Yet, while exposing the more unpleasant sides of Jackie's character (in essence, bringing her down to earth with the rest of us), "America's Queen" takes a decidedly more sympathetic route, with numerous sentences that begin "To be fair to Jackie...", etc, that assures that her virtues are still underscored while her faults are not smoothed over. In other words, skip the Christopher Anderson/Edward Klein accounts if you opt for exhaustively researched information and intimate analyses rather than sensationalistic prose and shameless cashing-in on Jackie's fame.
I also think it is a tribute to the author as much to the subject that this book is so exceptional. I think Jackie, lover of literature that she was, would have appreciated the numerous literary passages preceding some of the chapters. Despite her distaste for exposure, I think she would have felt in fairly good hands had she known the diligence, sensitivity, and, most of all, sense of morality and balance that went into this work.

I never read a biography that kept me up until 2:00 oclock in the morning for three nights. The first president I voted for was JFK and the impact that the Kennedys had on my life has been tremendous, from the assasination of JFK to John Johns untimely death. It is sad to learn that Jackie was far from being the divine creaure she was imagined to be. I enthusiastically recommend this book to anyone who grew up in that era.

As biographies of this type go, I quite enjoyed this one. It is long - fine print and well over 400 pages - but although I found the early chapters a bit slow, it was reasonably easy to read. I know a bit about the story, the politics of the Kennedy era, and the subsequent history of the family, so it was probably easier for me to read a book of this length and detail than most. Other well-known people (of all nationalities) wander in and out of the story with regularity, offering little insights and reminders which add to the appeal of the book. The author doesn't appear to be particularly sympathetic to, or critical of, Jackie Kennedy, which may suggest that the biography is about as unbiased as you are going to get. However I did not end up feeling any real sympathy for, or empathy with, Jackie Kennedy - I probably expected to (having invested so much time in reading about the many and varied aspects of her life), given the tragedies and difficulties she experienced. Certainly there were moments where my heart went out to her, but on balance, I was left with more of a feeling of someone just a bit too arrogant and self-centred, and out-of-touch with the real world, to deserve much sympathy.