20 Best Books About Jackie Kennedy (2023 Update)

Shortly after john f. kennedy's assassination, jacqueline kennedy found the strength to set aside her own personal grief and begin the task of documenting and preserving her husband's legacy. in january of 1964, she sat down with arthur schlesinger jr. to record detailed and unvarnished accounts of her experiences and impressions. this set captures the series of interviews on 8 cds, while the hardcover book contains the complete transcripts and dozens of rarely-seen family photographs. in this intimate portrait of a man, a marriage, and a presidency, the former first lady opens up on jfk's private opinions of friends and rivals, his attitude towards his catholic faith, and his plans for his second term.

The instant new york times and usa today bestseller! the untold story of how one woman's life was changed forever in a matter of seconds by a horrific trauma. – barbara leaming's extraordinary and deeply sensitive biography is the first book to document jacqueline kennedy onassis' brutal, lonely and valiant thirty-one year struggle with post-traumatic stress disorder (ptsd) that followed jfk's assassination. – here is the woman as she has never been seen before. – leaming's biography also makes clear the pattern of jackie's life as a whole. kennedy and the white house, how she sought to reconcile the conflicts of her marriage and the role she was to play, and how the trauma of her husband's murder which left her soaked in his blood and brains led her to seek a very different kind of life from the one she'd previously sought. – a life story that has been scrutinized countless times, seen here for the first time as the serious and important story that it is.

"an unforgettable portrait of the iconic life of jackie o as she transforms herself into an american legend from acclaimed author stephanie marie thornton. millions fell silent, stricken by grief and disillusionment, as news of president kennedy's assassination streaked across the globe. where were you when it happened, they asked? but for one woman the answer has always been the same–for every step, every victory, and every defeat–she was right beside him. born into luxury and beauty, spontaneous young jacqueline bouvier aspires to be more than the debutante of the year, even if she isn't quite sure what that means. a whirlwind courtship and fairytale wedding to handsome war-hero john f. kennedy propel her into a startling new world of power and politics. filled with incredible highs and unimaginable challenges, jackie learns to hone her survival skills. her grace and grit help catapult jfk from the senate to the oval office in one of the closest races in u.s. history. jackie awes the country with her elegance and poise even as she is plagued by self-doubt over whether she can be the wife, mother, and first lady that her husband and the country need. then jackie accompanies jfk to dallas and their thousand days of magic come to an abrupt and devastating end–forcing jackie to pick up the ruined fragments of her life and forge a triumphant new identity"–

*the instant new york times bestseller*a dazzling biography of three of the most glamorous women of the 20th century: jacqueline bouvier kennedy onassis, her mother janet lee auchincloss, and her sister, princess lee radziwill.“ do you know what the secret to happily-ever-after is?” janet bouvier auchincloss would ask her daughters jackie and lee during their tea time. “money and power,” she would say. it was a lesson neither would ever forget. they followed in their mother’s footsteps after her marriages to the philandering socialite “black jack” bouvier and the fabulously rich standard oil heir hugh d. jacqueline bouvier would marry john f. less well known is the story of her love affair with a world renowned architect and a british peer. her sister, lee, had liaisons with one and possibly both of jackie's husbands, in addition to her own three marriages—to an illegitimate royal, a polish prince and a hollywood director. if the bouvier women personified beauty, style and fashion, it was their lust for money and status that drove them to seek out powerful men, no matter what the cost to themselves or to those they stepped on in their ruthless climb to the top. based on hundreds of new interviews with friends and family of the bouviers, among them their own half-brother, as well as letters and journals, j. randy taraborrelli's book paints an extraordinary psychological portrait of two famous sisters and their ferociously ambitious mother.

The next thirteen years of her life were spent in jackie’s service, during which kathy not only played a crucial role in raising young caroline and john jr., but also had a front-row seat to some of the twentieth century’s most significant events. because kathy was always at jackie’s side, rose kennedy deemed her “jackie’s girl.” and although kathy called jackie “madam,” she considered her employer more like a big sister who, in many ways, mentored her on how to be a lady. kathy was there during jackie and aristotle onassis’s courtship and marriage and robert kennedy’s assassination, dutifully supporting jackie and the children during these tumultuous times in history. a rare and engrossing look at the private life of one of the most famous women of the twentieth century, jackie’s girl is also a moving personal story of a young woman finding her identity and footing in a new country, along with the help of the most elegant woman in america.

From the #1 bestselling author of the secret wife comes a story of love, passion, and tragedy as the lives of jackie kennedy and maria callas are intertwined–and they become the ultimate rivals, in love with the same man. the president's wife; a glamorous superstar; the rivalry that shook the world… jackie kennedy was beautiful, sophisticated, and contemplating leaving her ambitious young senator husband. life in the public eye with an overly ambitious–and unfaithful–man who could hardly be coaxed to return from a vacation after the birth of a stillborn child was breaking her spirit. so when she's offered a holiday on the luxurious yacht owned by billionaire ari onassis, she says yes…to a meeting that will ultimately change her life. maria callas is at the height of her operatic career and widely considered to be the finest soprano in the world. and then she's introduced to aristotle onassis, the world's richest man and her fellow greek. stuck in a childless, sexless marriage, and with pressures on all sides from opera house managers and a hostile press, she finds her life being turned upside down by this hyper-intelligent and impeccably charming man… little by little, maria's and jackie's lives begin to overlap, and they come closer and closer until everything they know about the world changes on a dime.

Jackie kennedy was only thirty-four when camelot ended in a blaze of gunfire on november 22, 1963. with jfk, she had captured the world's imagination. without him, she would hold it until her own death three decades later – achieving a kind of global fame that has rarely been known in this century. billions of words have been written about her, but jackie guarded her privacy so fiercely that she remains veiled in mystery and mystique. in this much-anticipated sequel to his 1996 bestseller, jack and jackie, christopher andersen draws on previously sealed archival material and newly declassified documents – as well as important sources who have agreed to speak here for the first time – to paint a sympathetic yet often startling portrait of jackie in all her rich complexity.

Jacqueline kennedy is one of history's great style icons. her profound influence on the way an entire generation wanted to look, dress and behave cannot be overestimated' – hamish bowles, vogue.a behind-the-scenes look at the clothes and the era that made jacqueline kennedy the beacon of style whose enduring legacy lives on. featuring 80 original and memorable gowns, suits and accessories from those housed at the john f. kennedy library and museum, this collection presents the clothes themselves against a historical backdrop of personal notes, artifacts and little-known anecdotes provided by such white house insiders as pulitzer-prize winning historian arthur m. schlesinger jr (author of a thousand days, a study of the kennedy white house) and close friend of the american first lady, mrs jane wrightsman. the book presents images of jacqueline kennedy that are both new and surprising as well as familiar images that have seeped into the world's consciousness.

From the author of the bestselling audrey stylejacqueline bouvier kennedy onassis was known by many names, but to us, she is jackie. and whether she liked it or not, she was, and still is, the most famous woman in the world." no one else looked like her, spoke like her, wrote like her, or was so original in the way she did things," said her brother-in-law senator edward kennedy. her style — what made her jackie — has been emulated, imitated, even occasionally reviled, but never fully examined. for the first time, this biography details the singular life that made jackie an icon and contributed so greatly to her enduring appeal. drawing on original interviews with valentino, hubert de givenchy, manolo blahnik, and oleg cassini, as well as close friends c. z. guest, george plimpton, and john loring, and family members such as joan kennedy, hugh d. auchincloss, and john davis, this compelling volume brings to life the private jackie her family and friends loved.with one hundred rare color and black-and-white photographs and sketches, and never-before-published personal letters, memos, and essays, jackie style re-creates not only jackie's extraordinary history — fashion being just one part of it — but the world she came from, the white house she revived, the husband and children she adored, the causes she supported, and, finally, the life she chose to lead.

She was a woman of confidence and passion who drew on a remarkable wealth of self-knowledge and a sense of purpose to cope with extraordinary public demands and overwhelming private needs.what jackie taught us offers insights from the life of jacqueline kennedy onassis about how to live with poise, grace, and zest, including wisdom about image and style, courage and vision, men, marriage, and motherhood. this commemorative edition features contributions from notable individuals amplifying the ways in which jackie's life has influenced themand society at largeover the past several decades, including:liz smith, columnist and author of natural blonde: the most attractive, exasperating, intelligent, frustrating historical icon ever. she was the first lady to end all first ladies for never giving herself away.” edna o'brien, author of country girl: a memoir: she went through life veiled, and left it with her stardust intact.” a.e. hotchner, author of papa hemingway: from the moment jackie fell in love with kennedy, her first love, it was a love that never wavered. she knew from the start that she was in a very green pasturegreener than any that may be beyond.” kent barwick, president emeritus, municipal art society of new york: jackie will always be remembered for saving grand central. but the enduring even greater gift to the country was [jackie's] willingness to stand up for what she believed even if it meant confronting those in power.” malachy mccourt, author of malachy mccourt's history of ireland: she used the charismatic power of her charm not only on the men in her life, but to gain new respect worldwide for these united states.” marguerite kelly, syndicated columnist and coauthor of the mother's almanac: she was the presence' that young mothers needed during such a turbulent timewe did our best to make our children look and act like caroline and john-john.” allen packwood, director of the churchill archives at the university of cambridge: if churchill was a lion, then jacqueline kennedy was a lionessshe too became a symbol of human and moral courage.” dr. andrew roberts, frsl, author of napoleon and wellington and the battle of waterloo:she possessed a self-confidence that permitted her to achieve things that others even those with apparently equal abilities might have eschewed even the effort to try.” hank o'neal, photographer and author of xcia's street art project: the first four decades: the portrait ( i took of her) shows a strong and confident woman. nothing is forced; this was just the way she was on a day in december 1979, projecting an elegant image into a very old-fashioned camera.” ashton hawkins, former executive vice president & counsel to the trustees, metropolitan museum of art: when jackie died of cancer on may 19th, 1994 all of america came together to mourn her death. seven years later the metropolitan museum and its director, philippe de montebello, were proud to celebrate her life with a memorial exhibition: jacqueline kennedy: the white house years'”. declan kiely, robert h. taylor curator and department head, literary and historical manuscripts, the morgan library & museum: without jackie's unwavering focus the kennedy library may never have been completed. she spearheaded the fund-raising and worked indefatigably as the building project weathered planning controversies, site-switching, and successive reprogramming.” lynne olson, author of citizens of london and those angry days: the power of words was extremely important to her, as it was to me; so was the joy of learning something new. all her life, she possessed an endlessly inquiring mind.”

For more than 25 years, jacqueline bouvier kennedy onassis has been the focus of unparalleled fascination and uninterrupted curiosity. heymann provides the most comprehensive portrait of this complex woman ever published, based on hu ndreds of exclusive interviews and unprecedented access to personal source materials. 16 pages of photos.

Text and photographs describe the life story of jackie onassis from her childhood through the political years as senator's and president's wife; and then the time of motherhood, widowhood, and remarriage then widowhood for the second time. the later years are described as she continued her life as mother and grandmother.

History remembers jacqueline kennedy onassis as the consummate first lady, the nation's tragic widow, the tycoon's wife, and, of course, the quintessential embodiment of elegance. her biographers, however, tend to skip over an equally important stage in her life: her almost two-decade-long career as a book editor, publishing authors as diverse as diana vreeland, louis auchincloss, george plimpton, dorothy west, naguib mahfouz, and even michael jackson.greg lawrence, who had three of his books edited by jackie, draws from interviews with more than 125 of her former collaborators and acquaintances 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. away from the public eye, jackie found fulfillment and quietly defined life on her own terms.

Jacqueline bouvier kennedy onassis is the ultimate american fashion icon. jay mulvaney, author of kennedy weddings, celebrates her unique style in this lavishly illustrated book. – jackie: the clothes of camelot is a richly illustrated history of those magical years when the kennedys captivated a nation and the world. her glamour was electric, her style imaginative, and the effect was brilliant. jacqueline kennedy's fashions from the white house years, over two hundred outfits, are illustrated with three hundred photographs, in both black and white and color, many previously unpublished or rarely seen. also included are photographs of jewelry and accessories as well as memorabilia, all exploring the continuing impact of jackie's fashion sensibility on our culture. – the range of illustrations and text is broad, including:early fashion influences – the inauguration ensembles – gowns for state events – the wardrobe for state visits abroad – private living and casual wear – french designers: haute couture in the white house – november 1963mrs. onassis and the post-camelot years – jackie: the clothes of camelot is a striking portrait of an unforgettable fashion legend.

Kennedy and aristotle onassis. lesser known are the five incredible years between those marriages, when she was on her own. jackie tells that story—the story of a woman who was globally famous, and yet utterly enigmatic. the world was shocked when jacqueline kennedy married aristotle onassis in 1968. it would not have been so surprising had the truth of their relationship—which dated back to the 1950s—been known. jackie knew ari almost as long as she had known john f. kennedy—and saw qualities in him (besides money) that she found highly attractive. the five years between her marriages to jfk and onassis are often overlooked. but it was an incredible period of growth and change for jackie. how did the world’s most famous woman remain so enigmatic? what was she really like? this book reveals the real jackie, the one that hid behind her trademark large sunglasses. in this book, you’ll learn about: jackie’s lovers—and the one man she regretted not marrying the secret, second burial of jfk her evolution from “political wife jackie” into “nightclubbing, party girl jackie” her own near death in 1967 her influence on pop art, fashion, and design

Of all the great love stories that have had an impact on our times – eleanor and franklin, winston and clementine, the duke and duchess of windsor – none has remained as shrouded in secrecy and misunderstanding as that of john and jacqueline kennedy. here, for the first time, their story is told the way it was always meant to be told – with such depth and amazing detail that it sheds a whole new light on the relationship at the heart of camelot. for many years, edward klein, the former editor in chief of the new york times magazine, was a friend of jacqueline kennedy onassis. drawing on his personal knowledge, major research libraries, private documents and correspondence, fbi files, and more than three hundred interviews, all too human is an original and unprecedented work on the kennedys – a book replete with fresh facts and information, as well as a dramatically new interpretation of the kennedy marriage.

Born into a socially prominent "old guard" family, jacqueline bouvier kennedy onassis (1929–1994) was one of the most public and yet most private of persona. in 1953, this poised, soft-spoken, and intelligent young woman married john f. kennedy, then senator from massachusetts. kennedy's election to the presidency in 1960 would catapult his shy and sedate wife into the national and international spotlight, and she would go on to become one of the world's most admired and emulated women.artist tom tierney pays tribute to this fascinating lady in a meticulously researched and excellently rendered paper doll collection. accompanying the dolls are 27 costumes, among them a wedding dress of ivory white silk taffeta worn by the young bride in 1953, exquisitely tailored suits and dresses for day wear, a number of evening gowns for white house galas and receptions, a ski suit, and the beige chiffon wedding dress worn by mrs. kennedy when she married onassis in 1968.

Born into a socially prominent "old guard" family, jacqueline bouvier kennedy onassis (1929–1994) was one of the most public and yet most private of persona. in 1953, this poised, soft-spoken, and intelligent young woman married john f. kennedy, then senator from massachusetts. kennedy's election to the presidency in 1960 would catapult his shy and sedate wife into the national and international spotlight, and she would go on to become one of the world's most admired and emulated women.artist tom tierney pays tribute to this fascinating lady in a meticulously researched and excellently rendered paper doll collection. accompanying the dolls are 27 costumes, among them a wedding dress of ivory white silk taffeta worn by the young bride in 1953, exquisitely tailored suits and dresses for day wear, a number of evening gowns for white house galas and receptions, a ski suit, and the beige chiffon wedding dress worn by mrs. kennedy when she married onassis in 1968.

Jackie o: on the couch is the story of jackie kennedy onassis as she might have written it. – this is not just another biography. for the first time, jackie o: on the couch highlights jackie's life from her own perspective, as imagined by author dr. alma bond, a psychoanalyst and long-time student of jackie lore. the facts are all historically correct, as are the ideas, the washington intrigue and politics, and the examination of the role of women in society and in the white house. jackie speaks of her need to record her story truthfully–to replace the hodgepodge of lies published during her lifetime. speaking as an older woman, she ponders how her points of view have changed from those she held when she was young. – the book delves into her childhood and explores how and why jackie became the person she was. it also explores the kennedys, and how john f. kennedy's background affected his marriage. jackie's deep love for jack, his early inattentiveness, their difficulties together, his outrageous womanizing, happy times at the white house, and the tragedy of his assassination–all are viewed through jackie's eyes. – jackie writes of her need for aristotle onassis, debunking the notion that she married him purely for his money, and traces the joyful early years of the marriage through to its dramatic collapse and ari's difficult death. – a different jackie emerges into the world of publishing. her new persona allows her to establish her very best relationship with the stout and adoring maurice tempelsman, until non-hodgkins lymphoma takes her life in 1994, at age 64. jackie o: on the couch is a unique exploration of the life and loves of a great historical figure. jackie kennedy onassis deeply prized her privacy and, as a result, she was both revered and mysterious. in this book, much of the mystery is shed as jackie finally emerges as a fully fleshed-out, three-dimensional person-a true human being, with enormous strengths and shortcomings, who all of us can now understand and appreciate, perhaps for the first time.

An illuminating new biography of the young jackie bouvier kennedy that covers her formative adventures abroad in paris; her life as a writer and photographer at a washington, dc, newspaper; and her romance with a dashing, charismatic massachusetts congressman who shared her intellectual passion. camera girl brings to cinematic life jackie’s years as a young, single woman trying to figure out who she wanted to become. chafing at the expectations of her family and the societal limitations placed on women in that era, jackie pursued her dream of becoming a writer. set primarily during the years of 1949 to 1953, when jackie was in her early twenties, the book recounts in heretofore unrevealed detail the story of her late college years and her early adulthood as a working woman. before she met jack kennedy, jacqueline bouvier was the washington times-herald’s “inquiring camera girl,” posing compelling questions to members of the public on the streets of dc and snapping their photos with her unwieldy graflex camera. she then fashioned the results into a daily column, of which six hundred were published. carl sferrazza anthony, a historian and leading expert on first ladies, draws on these columns and previously unseen archives of jackie’s writings from this time, along with insights gleaned from interviews he conducted with the former first lady’s friends, colleagues, and family members. camera girl offers a fresh perspective on the woman later known as jacqueline kennedy and jackie o, introducing us to the headstrong, self-assured young woman who went on to be one of the world’s most famous people. it’s a glamorous and surprisingly hard-charging story of a person determined to define herself, told with admiration, empathy, and journalistic rigor.