Customer Reviews

The Private Passion of Jackie Kennedy Onassis: Portrait of a Rider

5 star:		(14)
4 star:		(2)
3 star:		(0)
2 star:		(2)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

I used to hear stories from a hairdresser in Atoka, VA that she remembered Jackie and her family and how they used to come out to Middleburg all the time and were not at all snooty.

So when I saw this book displayed prominently in a Middleburg, VA bookstore - and saw that it had been written by a Middleburg resident, Vicky Moon, who had heard many of the local residents talk of how they had known Jackie and her family, and how they admired Jackie's horsemanship and her devotion to her horses - I just had to buy it.

This is a big coffee table book, with wonderful photos that take you through Jackie's horseriding childhood, to a pony (Macaroni) at the White House, the private retreat and the horses they had in Middleburg (at Glen-Ora), to the solace the Kennedy family took in horses when they moved to New York.

I don't agree at all with the negative comments made by other reviewers about the quality of the writing in the book. The writing is fine! The book is a collection of photos, in chronological order, and the author's narration is an excellent companion piece to each photo - not too much and not too little. I also appreciated how each photo was placed near the accompanying text - many books frustrate the reader by placing illustrations or photos far away from the text referring to it.

This book opened a magical door to a side of Jackie Kennedy I never knew. Horse lovers and Jackie fans will love this book. The photographs are wonderful and take you back to a time and place that I wish I could go back to. I loved this book when I bought it, and I have looked through it several times since then. It is worth the money.

Vicky Moon's latest book, THE PRIVATE PASSION OF JACKIE KENNEDY ONASSIS: PORTRAIT OF A RIDER, features not only lovely photographs of the former First Lady, but new and interesting biographical information about the famous Jackie "O." Stretching from the time Jackie's mother first propped her on a horse at the tender age of one in 1930, until her death in 1994, Jackie Kennedy's love of horse become factors which molded her into the woman that she became. What I found intriguing about this book, besides the great photographs, was learning how emotionally difficult Jackie's early life had been due to her parent's unhappy marriage, and her obsession with horses which seemed to stem from her desperately unhappy home life. Her horses, throughout her life, offered a much-cherished diversion, even when the sport's association with elitism and exclusivity in the minds of many Americans, caused concern in the White House when her husband was President.

THE PRIVATE PASSION OF JACKIE KENNEDY ONASSIS is written in a style that will always hold the reader's interest. I recommend this book, not only for those who are already familiar with Jackie's life, but those who desire to develop a deeper understanding of her character. How can you discuss a famous subject without taking a very close look at her family, her social life and her true passion....in this case, her adoration of horses. It's enjoyable reading.

The author did an exceptional job describing Jackie's love of horses. The pictures are wonderful showing Jackie riding for pleasure and in competition in horse shows and hunt meets.
The indepth history of Jackie's family all involved in equestrian riding is also remarkable.

I truly enjoyed the book.

Vicky Moon has written a fascinating account of Jackie Kennedy's lifetime passion for horses, filled with wonderful anecdotes and a breezy narrative with lots of new information about a side of the late First Lady rarely written about back then or in other Kennedy books.

The pictures in this book are magnificent and the text is well written and easy to read, gossipy almost at times. However, it is written with love and respect for the subject, a fascinating woman who led her own exemplary life. If you are a fan of horses, or Jackie, or both, you will really enjoy this peek into her lifelong love affair with horses.

When John F. Kennedy was elected president, I was five years old. That was also the year I started taking horseback riding lessons at Potomac Horse Center in Gaithersburg, Maryland. By the year he was assassinated, I was in my first season at horse shows in Virginia and Maryland. We lived on a farm in Great Falls, Virginia, and I showed my pony every weekend, from March to September, eventually moving on to Hunters as I grew up. Jackie Kennedy, and eventually her daughter and her nieces and nephews (Robert Kennedy's children who lived just up the road in McLean) were just other nice people on the horse show circuit.

I saw Jackie Kennedy Onassis through the eyes of the horse-crazy kid I was in the sixties. She was beautiful, tragic and quite a talented rider -- always perfectly turned out, always on beautiful horses. She was also approachable in that familiar milieu. She had a conversation with my mother one day as I was competing in a Small Pony Hunter Under Saddle class at Upperville. I remember seeing her with a small group of women standing by the rail as the class was being judged. My mother bred Bassett hounds, and she told me later that the women were discussing dog breeding and bloodlines.

This book is a lovely tribute to the quiet passion of horsemanship which was infused in Jackie Kennedy. I share her passion, and I know that my love of horses has helped me through some terrible times in my own life. The book is also a retrospective of a dead era. The photographs are wonderful because they so beautifully depict a time which is sadly long gone. I still compete in horse shows today, but they are nothing like they used to be. Tradition has been replaced by corporate sponsorship, and for the most part the romance of the horse world is found not at the "A"-rated shows, but only in tiny corners of 4-H meetings and Pony Club rallies. The love of horses used to be a great leveler for interaction between riders, spectators and communities. Not so in this celebrity-mad era -- I miss it so.

I loved this book. I admired this woman. The text which accompanies the photographs is evocative and respectful. Perhaps Jackie Kennedy was not the best first lady. She was certainly not a canny politician in the vein of Rosalyn Carter or Nancy Reagan. But she was a lady, to the core, and an icon. And if you want to understand her better, and perhaps understand the last vestiges of early twentieth-century glamour which clung to her, and to the horse world she was a part of, buy this book.

vicky's latest book is the culmination of a great deal of research and interviewing. that is clearly evident in the book.
i bought it as a beautiful coffee table book--and it most certainly IS that, but when i began reading it, i read it cover to cover non-stop. stories never told, intimate details of her love and relationship to horses--what a metaphor they were for her in her life (which i totally identify with). i immediately bought 10 books for christmas presents and everyone loved them.

this book is not written as to be one of the 100 greatest books ever written, so nonsense to the critiques of her writing style. she tells a story, untold for the most part, of a very private woman, who could achieve that privacy with her horses, and she told the story beautifully. the photography - most of it new is beautiful and tells its own story. if you are looking for the great books then go buy a tale of two cities.
great job vicky--it was well worth the wait!

Imaging sitting down with an old friend and slowly turning page after page of your equine scapebook. Photos that are catalysis for memories that make you stop and think about days gone by. This is not great literature, but it is a satisfying book. It captures memories of an Equine Camelot. I have been a Kennedy buff for over 50 years. I own more than 100 books on the Kennedy's. This book provided photos of Jackie I had never seen before. The photo on page 26 of a young rumpled Jackie sitting on a tack box is worth the price of the entire book. I enjoyed the book, cover to cover, in about 60 minutes. It was a magical trip down memory lane. The photos of American Royality are very similar to those in my own horsey scape book. My money and time were very well spent.

If you are a horse person or a Jackie fan this book is perfect. The photos are great and it has much detail on her equestrian life. It is a beautiful coffee table book and one that I will treasure for years to come.

Vicky Moon isn't much of a writer but the subject and the photos are terrific. I loved looking at Jackie's horses and how well she rode. The book is worth the money for that alone.