An absorbing chronicle of a much overlooked chapter in Jacqueline Kennedy Onassis’s life—her nineteen-year editorial career History remembers Jacqueline Kennedy Onassis as the consummate first lady, the nation’s tragic widow, the millionaire’s wife, and, of course, the quintessential embodiment of elegance. Her biographers, however, skip over an equally important stage in her life: her nearly twenty year long career as a book editor. Jackie as Editor is the first book to focus exclusively on this remarkable woman’s editorial career. At the age of forty-six, one of the most famous women in the world went to work for the first time in twenty-two years. Greg Lawrence, who had three of his books edited by Jackie, draws from interviews with more than 125 of her former collaborators and acquaintances in the publishing world to examine one of the twentieth century's most enduring subjects of fascination through a new angle: her previously untouted skill in the career she chose. Over the last third of her life, Jackie would master a new industry, weather a very public professional scandal, and shepherd more than a hundred books through the increasingly corporate halls of Viking and Doubleday, publishing authors as diverse as Diana Vreeland, Louis Auchincloss, George Plimpton, Bill Moyers, Dorothy West, Naguib Mahfouz, and even Michael Jackson. Jackie as Editor gives intimate new insights into the life of a complex and enigmatic woman who found fulfillment through her creative career during book publishing’s legendary Golden Age, and, away from the public eye, quietly defined life on her own terms.
Jackie as Editor
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Editorial Reviews
From Publishers Weekly
Charting Jacqueline Kennedy Onassis's impressive legacy as an editor at Viking and Doubleday, Lawrence draws on a wealth of sources, including interviews with more than 125 of her former publishing collaborators, and hundreds of notes left to the author by Onassis. He was also one of her authors, co-writing three books with his former wife, ballerina Gelsey Kirkland (including the controversial bestseller Dancing on My Grave). Onassis learned the hard lessons of editing early on: from Barbara Chase-Riboud, author of the novel Sally Hemings, that the best authors are those willing to be edited, and from Michael Jackson, the frustration of working with an enigmatic celebrity. This Onassis appreciation appears almost simultaneously with William Kuhn's misleadingly titled Reading Jackie: Her Autobiography in Books, and while both will appeal primarily to publishing and media insiders, Lawrence's perceptive, impressively researched, book is the better of the two, presenting a woman with "a grand spirit of adventure and... a sense of irony about life that served as a kind of armor" for this courageous, gifted woman. 8 pages of b&w photos. (Jan.)
(c) Copyright PWxyz, LLC. All rights reserved.
(c) Copyright PWxyz, LLC. All rights reserved.
Review
"A fascinating window into an aspect of Jackie Kennedy Onassis that few of us know."
--USA Today
"Greg Lawrence, whom the first lady edited, interviews her former colleagues and authors to paint a fascinating portrait of a woman who found a life in that most private of activities, reading."
--Town & Country
"Jacqueline Kennedy Onassis never wrote her memoirs, but you can tell a lot about the late First Lady's life by the books she loved, and those she edited in her nearly two decades as a publishing executive."
--O Magazine
"Charting Jacqueline Kennedy Onassis's impressive legacy as an editor at Viking and Doubleday, Lawrence draws on a wealth of sources, including interviews with more than 125 of her former publishing collaborators, and hundreds of notes left to the author by Onassis. He was also one of her authors, co-writing three books with his former wife, ballerina Gelsey Kirkland (including the controversial bestseller Dancing on My Grave). . . . This Onassis appreciation appears almost simultaneously with William Kuhn's misleadingly titled Reading Jackie: Her Autobiography in Books, and while both will appeal primarily to publishing and media insiders, Lawrence's perceptive, impressively researched, book is the better of the two, presenting a woman with 'a grand spirit of adventure and... a sense of irony about life that served as a kind of armor' for this courageous, gifted woman."
--Publishers Weekly
"One of Jacqueline Onassis’s authors dishes kindly on her impressive editorial record ... [and] fleshes out the editorial career of the enigmatic icon who was the subject of inflated tabloid coverage throughout much of her life yet who proved in her later years to be a surprisingly humble, hardworking team player, first at Viking, then Doubleday. . . . Lawrence lets rip the first-person reminiscences from those who knew and worked with her . . . [and] demonstrates how Onassis grew in confidence and professional stature in promoting books and authors she truly cared about. Chatty without being vulgar, a deeply admiring portrait of a lady the world is just now getting to know."
--Kirkus Reviews
"Jackie as Editor is a fascinating insider account of her fulfilling final years as a book editor in publishing. A must for Jackie fans."
---Sarah Bradford, author of America’s Queen: The Life of Jacqueline Kennedy Onassis, Lucrezia Borgia: Life, Love, and Death in Renaissance Italy, and Diana
"For Jackie Kennedy Onassis, the role of editor was just another version of her role as America’s muse. She created the Camelot story in the JFK histories, and years later she wrought the same magic upon the books she edited. I kept wondering as I read Greg Lawrence’s book what Mrs. O would have made of this delicious biography. This is a great story about a woman who had everything—men, money, power—and all she wanted was more to read. I bet she would have loved Jackie as Editor. Every book lover and fan of Jackie will be caught in its magic."
---Harriet Rubin, author of The Princessa: Machiavelli for Women and Dante in Love: The World’s Greatest Poem and How It Made History
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Customer Reviews
Most Helpful Customer Reviews
64 of 68 people found the following review helpful
5.0 out of 5 stars
An Absolutely Beautiful Read - 5 Stars - You're Going To Love It !!!!
January 14, 2011
Format:Hardcover
Only since her death in 1994, are we beginning to realize the depth and complexity of this magnificent women who we never really knew. Her image completely shaped by two husbands, each of whom were bigger than life. For many years Jackie Kennedy lived her life through her relationships with men of great power. Perhaps this was merely symbolic of the age that existed back then, but Jackie was never one to be kept captive by her surroundings, or those who would choose to try to control her, even exploit her.
After the death of Aristotle Onassis, Jackie started to come into her own. Receiving a $26 million settlement from the Onassis estate, she would be able live a life of luxury without being dependent upon the Kennedy family fortune which had bypassed her. She would come to know Andre Meyer, the most powerful banker of his generation, and together, he would build her nest egg into a multi-hundred million dollar fortune.
At 46, she was in the last third of her life - what to do? She decided she would live life on her own terms, and live she did. She knew that many of her relationships were superficial. People hung onto her because of her position in society, and she knew how to block people out once they violated her confidence, as so many of them did.
Greg Lawrence's book does a magnificent and beautiful job of taking us through the last third of Jackie's journey. She would learn to balance life with her children and pursue a career that many felt incredulous. The former first lady last had a job in the 1950's as a camera girl for the Washington Times-Herald. It was 1953, and the pay was $43.50 per week.
She had recently turned down an opportunity to create a television special on a project she loved, having been offered $500,000 to see the project through. She fought an aged Aristotle Onassis for his approval, and his response typical of the era was "No Greek wife works." It's all here and more.
And so after Aristotle's death, she calls friends in the publishing industry and decides she needs to pursue a career. Lawrence points out that one publisher tells her that it would be unfair to all his assistant editors to bring her in with no experience while they have worked hard for hers. He quickly lost her to Viking Publishing at a salary of $200 per week for a 4 day workweek.
Over the next 20 years, she edits and promotes more than 100 books, 3 of which were by Greg Lawrence, the writer of this work. As a result of Jackie working with Lawrence directly, we know that he really got to know her, and what made her tick during this, Jackie's literary period. Maxwell Perkins taught her that the book belongs to the author. By living this concept, Jackie knew always to remain in the background. Let the author shine. It is the author's book and therefore it is the writer who must be front and center. Years later she would leave Viking and join Doubleday and her career would go on, until she had built a legacy with those 100 plus books that she had chaperoned into existence. Each one allowing her a new window into a new aspect of society and history.
Extremely modest, and by nature shy, when she would refer to books, she would call them, her other best friends. When she died, she was surrounded by books. She loved books as her son John said at her death. They were her window into the minds, and hearts and ideas, and through them, the world. When she died at a much too young 64 years of age, her brother in law, Senator Ted Kennedy said that Jackie would have preferred to be, "Just herself, but the world insisted that she be a legend too." It's all here in Jackie as Editor, beautifully crafted by a master story teller, enlightening, and engaging. I am thankful that Lawrence wrote this timeless tale that will be read for years to come, and thank you for reading this review.
Richard C. Stoyeck
After the death of Aristotle Onassis, Jackie started to come into her own. Receiving a $26 million settlement from the Onassis estate, she would be able live a life of luxury without being dependent upon the Kennedy family fortune which had bypassed her. She would come to know Andre Meyer, the most powerful banker of his generation, and together, he would build her nest egg into a multi-hundred million dollar fortune.
At 46, she was in the last third of her life - what to do? She decided she would live life on her own terms, and live she did. She knew that many of her relationships were superficial. People hung onto her because of her position in society, and she knew how to block people out once they violated her confidence, as so many of them did.
Greg Lawrence's book does a magnificent and beautiful job of taking us through the last third of Jackie's journey. She would learn to balance life with her children and pursue a career that many felt incredulous. The former first lady last had a job in the 1950's as a camera girl for the Washington Times-Herald. It was 1953, and the pay was $43.50 per week.
She had recently turned down an opportunity to create a television special on a project she loved, having been offered $500,000 to see the project through. She fought an aged Aristotle Onassis for his approval, and his response typical of the era was "No Greek wife works." It's all here and more.
And so after Aristotle's death, she calls friends in the publishing industry and decides she needs to pursue a career. Lawrence points out that one publisher tells her that it would be unfair to all his assistant editors to bring her in with no experience while they have worked hard for hers. He quickly lost her to Viking Publishing at a salary of $200 per week for a 4 day workweek.
Over the next 20 years, she edits and promotes more than 100 books, 3 of which were by Greg Lawrence, the writer of this work. As a result of Jackie working with Lawrence directly, we know that he really got to know her, and what made her tick during this, Jackie's literary period. Maxwell Perkins taught her that the book belongs to the author. By living this concept, Jackie knew always to remain in the background. Let the author shine. It is the author's book and therefore it is the writer who must be front and center. Years later she would leave Viking and join Doubleday and her career would go on, until she had built a legacy with those 100 plus books that she had chaperoned into existence. Each one allowing her a new window into a new aspect of society and history.
Extremely modest, and by nature shy, when she would refer to books, she would call them, her other best friends. When she died, she was surrounded by books. She loved books as her son John said at her death. They were her window into the minds, and hearts and ideas, and through them, the world. When she died at a much too young 64 years of age, her brother in law, Senator Ted Kennedy said that Jackie would have preferred to be, "Just herself, but the world insisted that she be a legend too." It's all here in Jackie as Editor, beautifully crafted by a master story teller, enlightening, and engaging. I am thankful that Lawrence wrote this timeless tale that will be read for years to come, and thank you for reading this review.
Richard C. Stoyeck
16 of 16 people found the following review helpful
Format:Hardcover|Amazon Verified Purchase
I remember hearing about Jackie taking on the job as an editor back in the late 70's. I had no idea how she built a prolific and meaningful career in publishing. She had a strong eye for ideas that could become successful books. She also was not shy about line editing. She worked extremely hard with her authors, and pushed them to produce a high quality product. Colleagues were initially overwhelmed with her presence, but eventually treated her as any other co-worker. She was a prolific editor, and Lawrence has a way of making it all so interesting. Jackie worked all the way up to her untimely death. I didn't think I could respect this woman anymore than I already did - but this lifted my respect to the highest level possible.
27 of 30 people found the following review helpful
Format:Hardcover
I have read "Reading Jackie" and now I am reading this incredible book.
This is the better of the two titles. I will give my reasons why later
but for now I had to stop mid-book to cast my vote overwhelmingly on this
work of literary depth. It goes beyond the cliches, wherein much of
"Reading Jackie" is mired, and provides solid foundations for
each aspect of the character portrayal(this unlike "Reading Jackie"
where on the flimsiest evidence Lawrence will infer a major trait).
Also, ones feels in the flow and seamless authority of this book
the benefits and depth that come from the portrayal of someone who
actually knew her personally and had dealings with her. Lawrence also
goes back to the original sources and lets them speak first hand
about their experience of her, instead of dealing in overhwhelmingly
in hearsay, as Kuhn does.
So, beautifully done! (I'll write more detailed reviews of both books later).
P.S. I was intrigued to know which would be the better book, especially after
I read Kuhn's low-class remarks about Lawrence in the NYT. It figures that
the one with the ugly remarks has the cheaper book with less quality and
less value from a literary point of view. Was it Matthew who said, "as
within, so without"?
This is the better of the two titles. I will give my reasons why later
but for now I had to stop mid-book to cast my vote overwhelmingly on this
work of literary depth. It goes beyond the cliches, wherein much of
"Reading Jackie" is mired, and provides solid foundations for
each aspect of the character portrayal(this unlike "Reading Jackie"
where on the flimsiest evidence Lawrence will infer a major trait).
Also, ones feels in the flow and seamless authority of this book
the benefits and depth that come from the portrayal of someone who
actually knew her personally and had dealings with her. Lawrence also
goes back to the original sources and lets them speak first hand
about their experience of her, instead of dealing in overhwhelmingly
in hearsay, as Kuhn does.
So, beautifully done! (I'll write more detailed reviews of both books later).
P.S. I was intrigued to know which would be the better book, especially after
I read Kuhn's low-class remarks about Lawrence in the NYT. It figures that
the one with the ugly remarks has the cheaper book with less quality and
less value from a literary point of view. Was it Matthew who said, "as
within, so without"?
Most Recent Customer Reviews
3.0 out of 5 stars
Too bear
This book was not written in a lively fashion. Very poor flow and mechanically written.Not a book that the Jackie- lover would call a number one hit!
Published 1 month ago by tina b a birkholm
2.0 out of 5 stars
Editor Jackie
This book covers the various connections that Jackie had as an editor. It certainly reveals her associations and ideas as an editor.
Published 3 months ago by Arabella Hong Young
5.0 out of 5 stars
Love it
Got this for a Christmas present for family. Love the hardcover and the deal price! Super information. Love reading about famous lives
Published 4 months ago by Chew
5.0 out of 5 stars
An Intelligent, Brilliant, Sensitive Editor
Jackie as Editor highlights just how darn smart Jacqueline Kennedy Onassis was, and how she brought that intelligence and limitless curiosity to the publishing world. Read more
Published 7 months ago by W. Montgomery
5.0 out of 5 stars
Wonderful
I enjoyed the fact this book reveals a little-known view of Jackie Kennedy-Onassis. She is one of my most admired women and it was nice to see this well-educated and refined woman... Read more
Published 11 months ago by Gemma Finds
1.0 out of 5 stars
An author-wannabe that should have stayed as a wannabe
The type is very small in this book. The author is no author. I was a teenager during Camelot and read all Jackie books. This is close if not the worst. It's just boring. Read more
Published 18 months ago by Carolina Moon
5.0 out of 5 stars
Good for inside view of publishing world in its decline in the '80s
And, of course, I'm a Jackie fan--like the author. She was definitely a myth-maker, but I admire her smarts and pluck, and this book gives a peek at those sides of her.
Published 18 months ago by Sue Moran
3.0 out of 5 stars
Bernadette Dunne
I listened to this title as a Book-on-Tape. My opinion is that Bernadette Dunne should not have tried to imitate the breathy voice of Jackie O. It came across as cloying. Read more
Published 21 months ago by B
4.0 out of 5 stars
Interesting view of a life with authors
As someone who always found Jacqueline Kennedy Onassis fascinating, I wondered about how she had spent her final years. She was an editor, I knew, but what did she edit? Read more
Published 23 months ago by hrladyship
5.0 out of 5 stars
Getting to know Jackie: You are what you read
Two books were published almost simultaneously on the same subject: Jacqueline Kennedy Onassis as editor. Read more
Published 24 months ago by Charles S. Houser
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