Book Description

Peter Evans's biography of Aristotle Onassis, Ari, met with great acclaim when it was published in 1986. Ari provided the world with an unprecedented glimpse of the Greek shipping magnate's orbit of dizzying wealth, twisted intrigues, and questionable mores. Not long after the book appeared, however, Onassis's daughter Christina and his longtime business partner Yannis Georgakis hinted to Evans that he had missed the "real story" -- one that proved Onassis's intrigues had deadly results. "I must begin," Georgakis said, "with the premise that, for Onassis, Bobby Kennedy was unfinished business from way back..."

His words launched Evans into the heart of a story that tightly bound Onassis not to Jackie's first husband, but to his ambitious younger brother Bobby. A bitter rivalry emerged between Bobby and Ari long before Onassis and Jackie had even met. Nemesis reveals the tangled thread of events that linked two of the world's most powerful men in their intense hatred for one another and uncovers the surprising role played by the woman they both loved. Their power struggle unfolds against a heady backdrop of international intrigue: Bobby Kennedy's discovery of the Greek shipping magnate's shady dealings, which led him to bar Onassis from trade with the United States; Onassis's attempt to control much of Saudi Arabia's oil; Onassis's untimely love affair with Jackie's married sister Lee Radziwill; and his bold invitation to First Lady Jackie to join him on his yacht -- without the president. Just as the self-made Greek tycoon gloried in the chance to stir the wrath of the Kennedys, they struggled unsuccessfully to break his spell over the woman who held the key to all of their futures. After Jack's death, Bobby became ever closer to Camelot's holy widow, and fought to keep her from marrying his sworn rival. But Onassis rarely failed to get what he wanted, and Jackie became his wife shortly after Bobby was killed.

Through extensive interviews with the closest friends, lovers, and relatives of Onassis and the Kennedys, longtime journalist Evans has uncovered the shocking culmination of the Kennedy-Onassis-Kennedy love triangle: Aristotle Onassis was at the heart of the plot to kill Bobby Kennedy. Meticulously tracing Onassis's connections in the world of terrorism, Nemesis presents compelling evidence that he financed the assassination -- including a startling confession that has gone unreported for nearly three decades. Along the way, this groundbreaking work also daringly paints these international icons in all of their true colors. From Evans's deeply nuanced portraits of the charismatic Greek shipping magnate and his acquisitive iconic bride to his probing and revelatory look into the events that shaped an era, Nemesis is a work that will not be soon forgotten.

Reviews (9)

Credible and Entertaining
By now most people know that the JFK image was an elaborate facade that covered up and hid a more complicated situation; the real story involved a charismatic leader, a shaky marriage and much womanizing. This book fills in a few more blank spots especially about the other half - Jackie and her sister Lee.

Peter Evans has already established a fine reputation in a series of 10 prior books including "Ari". Here he tries to clean up a series of loose ends on Aristotle Onassis, his Greek associates, his wife Tina, Maria Callas, Jackie O, her sister Lee, the Kennedy boys JFK and brother Robert Kennedy, Marilyn Monroe and others

For the most part this is an interesting read but it falls a but it short of being an absolute page turner. Still it is an interesting read and mostly compelling and is based on new information and stories from people wanting to set the record straight after the fact so to speak. I will not repeat the plot in detail here.

The main focus of the book is Onassis, and he is attempting to have three or four mistresses or more - all famous women - simultaneously while at first somewhat incredibly also attempting to stay married to his wife Tina - the latter he married when she was just seventeen and he was well into his middle years. He courts both the married Jackie while simultaneously bedding her sister plus opera singer Callas who he has pried away from her husband - all according to the book. This stirs up a lot of animosity with the Kennedy brothers and we follow an interesting and a real life tale of intrigue, jealousy, and revenge. In retrospect we should not have been surprised by the marriage betwen Ari and Jackie in later years.

It is like a "tell all" with many twists and turns, rises and falls in health, wealth, and marriages. The book does not have an index but it has an excellent section of detailed notes and a nice collection of photographs.

Generally a good read and well researched. 4 stars.

Jack in Toronto

In Short There Simply Was Never Camelot
I found this book, intriguing, interesting and sad because it is so credibly written. The footnotes are at times more interesing than the book. The research, the interviews the documentation of where people where, when events occured. Facinating.

I have been an admirer of Bobby Kennedy all my life. The poise and class of Jackie Kennedy seemed so believable, undeniable. Sure many know all the stories about the Kennedy men. (I for one wonder when he had time to be president, he seems to have had so many women) Turns out Jackie Kennedy Onasis could keep pace with the darker side of Jack Kennedy and was even greedier than Joe Kennedy.

Myths die hard. The author creates the sense of being inside the unraveling of the mystery. It is amost voyeristic to read about the tradegies that these wealthy people created for themselves.

I think this book is a must read, but be prepared to be disappointed in what you learn at some level. For in short, there simply never was a happily ever after life in Camelot.

Lifestyles of the Rich, Famous and Scandalous!
This book is a fascinating and addictive read. I could not put it down, unless I was throwing it down in shock, complete and utter shock at the way our so called "American royalty" lived their lives! But everytime I threw this book down, I picked it up again and continued -- the truth hurts, but it must be read! Peter Evans has spent more than 30 years researching and writing about Aristotle Onassis (He wrote the bio "Ari: The Life and Times of Aristotle Socrates Onassis"). He has demonstrated his insider access and ability to get candid interviews, quotes and details -- it's all in the book and the footnotes!!

This author spent time with Onassis, his daughter Christina and many of Onassis's closest relatives and associates from the late 1960's on. His theory, that Aristotle Onassis paid Palestinian terrorists to have RFK killed is supported not just by rumor and circumstantial evidence -- but by the confessions/revelations of Aristotle and Christina Onassis, business associates of Aristotle and one of his many lovers. Plus scribbling in Sirhan Sirhan's notebooks (that were entered into evidence at his trial) that implicated Onassis to anyone who was familiar with his world (and apparently convinced his own son of his involvement!).

You will not believe the reckless sexual behavior of Jackie, her sister Lee, the Kennedy men and just about everyone else in their world! Or how Ted Kennedy reportedly "pimped" Jackie when her intention to marry Onassis was announced (read the footnotes!).

If you think I have told too much you really need to read this book -- this isn't even the half of it!

Very well written, researched and documented. I am already hunting down books listed in the foot and end notes. New, used, you've got to read this book!

A book that proves truth is more fascinating than fiction
I've read many books on Jack and Jackie, the Kennedys, Bouviers and Onassis. This was a page turner from front to back and showed the darker side of the triangle that existed between Jackie, Robert and Ari. The writer is rather skillful in this expose of a book where he laid out in curious detail the connection between Aristotle Onassis and the assassination of Robert Kennedy. For anyone who wants to dig deeper into the private world of these wealthy jet setters and their life style of unleashed sex, power, betrayal, corruption and murder - this book is a must. It's a believable book, which makes it all the more intriguing.

Onassis versus the Kennedys
Peter Evans has written a fascinating and well documented work which reveals the Onassis-Kennedy connection which plays out like a Greek tragedy with Americna gods. It is a good follow up to another book Jackie Ari & Jack: The Tragic Love Triangle by January Jones which conclusivly connects Onasssis to the original JFK assassination. Both books are must read for all assassination buffs who are still asking who did it? ... Read more

Amazon.com

Nicholas Gage's meticulously documented and consistently absorbing account chronicles the stormy love affair between Maria Callas (1923-77) and Aristotle Onassis (1906-75). Gage sees the soprano who reinvented the art of opera and the tycoon who transformed the shipping industry as kindred spirits, drawn into romance by a deep connection to their Greek origins and a shared sense that, despite all they had achieved, something was missing. They found that absent element in a once-in-a-lifetime passion, which Onassis betrayed by marrying Jacqueline Kennedy in 1968. Gage appears to share the view of the tycoon's Greek coterie, who viewed this marriage as an act of hubris that inevitably led to financial and personal reversals which embittered Onassis in his final years. But he doesn't blame the tycoon for Callas's decline, pointing out that by the time they met, she was already experiencing severe vocal problems and was eager for respite from her taxing performance commitments. In any case, her career and his business dealings take a back seat here to Gage's evocative portrait of his subjects' outsized personalities and the jet-set society in the gaudy postwar years. Some of the new information is revelatory, particularly Gage's persuasive contention that Callas bore Onassis a son who died hours after his birth in 1960. At other times his investigative-journalist approach seems too weighty for this highly personal story of love, rage, and big, big egos. Fortunately, these lapses don't seriously mar a text distinguished by smooth prose, the seamless interweaving of several narrative strands, and a warm sympathy for its genuinely tragic protagonists. --Wendy Smith ... Read more

Reviews (14)

Yet another Callas book--but it's good
The respected Greek-American journalist and biographer Nicholas Gage has written an exhaustive chronicle of perhaps the most sensational episode in Maria Callas' sensational life--her stormy and ultimately tragic involvement with Aristotle Onassis, the Greek shipping magnate.

The tale of Callas' life and art, of course, has been told and retold in many volumes of varying worth, but biographically Mr. Gage's carefully researched and verified effort cannot fail to impress. Due to his dual subjects, his chronology largely limits itself to the last two decades of Callas' life (she became seriously involved with Onassis in 1959), but within this time frame he has come up with some startling new revelations, including the astonishing assertion (supported by convincing evidence) that Callas gave birth to a son by Onassis in 1960. The baby died the same day it was born, and this tragic event affected the entire rest of their relationship. There is a reverent, almost mystical tone in Gage's writing about the pair, a feeling that their romance was fated to happen and should have turned out much more happily than it did. This is backed up by the opinions of numerous people close to the couple that Onassis' impulsive pursuit of and marriage to Jacqueline Kennedy was the greatest mistake of his life.

Undoubtedly Onassis and Callas come vividly to life in these pages as people, warts and all. About Callas the musician Gage is less convincing. Although he speaks denigratingly about the false stories of the diva that have been uncritically perpetuated by biographers copying from each other, Gage himself does the same on occasion. For example, he repeats the standard tale of the January 1958 Rome Opera "walkout," that Callas was voiceless and struggling against hecklers from the very start of the performance. In fact, as Michael Scott has pointed out, a broadcast tape is readily available of the performance which belies both these contentions. Overall, too, Callas, even with her voice in decline, remained much more interested in singing after she met Onassis than the rather indolent portrait that emerges from these pages would indicate. Post-1960 there were several complete opera recordings, and numerous collections of arias released on disc, and these are just the commercial studio efforts.

Still, Callas the artist has been well-served in much other writing, notably that of John Ardoin. Gage's book corrects many more errors than it perpetuates. It is obligatory reading for any fan and, for that matter, anyone who wishes to know more about this eternally glamorous and fascinating pair.

Finally an honest telling of the Callas/Onassis story!
My grandmother gave me my first opera recording when I was 11 years old - the second Callas Tosca, and I spent much time later as an adult buying every recording she made and reading every book I could get my hands on to discover as much about this compelling artist as I could. At last, here is the definitive version of her great love affair, told impartially from many sources close to the heart of their relationship. I had always known that tabloid gossips had put a wrongful spin on what was going on, and it is refreshing to read the facts here, and have many longstanding falsehoods exposed. I knew absolutely nothing of Onassis before reading "Greek Fire", and this book gives a good general overview of his life and rise to being one of the richest men in the world. Onassis does not come off as the villian here - forcing Maria to give up her singing, to have an abortion, and then dumping her for Jackie Kennedy. The intricate byplay of these very public figures is chronicled extremely well, with each side of the "triangle" treated fairly. If anything, it is Jackie who comes off as the greedy, material, and socially power hungry villian, concerned only for herself, finally hooking the wealthiest man she could get her hands on. Since he is not a musical scholar, Gage does not discuss in depth the decline of Callas' voice prior to meeting Onassis, but it is fairly indicated, so at last here is a biographer that does not spin the familiar "Callas gave it all up for Onassis" story. Having read virtually every book published about Callas, I can say that this is certainly one of the best out there. I read it over one weekend, and immediately started reading it again. It was compelling.

good gossip on remarkable lovers
This is a great vacation book, well researched and by a very good reporter. The trouble is, should we care about the melodramas therein? I would arge yes, as they were outsized personalities and changed their times as much as reflected them.

The reader will be treated to a real view of the glitterati, from Callas and Onaissis, to Jackie Kennedy as she used the designer dresses he would buy to "launder" money by reselling them. It is sleaze at its best and a first-rate reporter to look under all the rocks for the voyeur, that is, me and you.

Recommended.

Wonderful !
When I started this book I said to myself, "How is Gage going to fill this whole book with Callas and Onassis?" Well, he did it. This factual account is so interesting that I couldn't put the book down. Gage gives us specifics and so many details that I have to believe that this is the most truthful account of this relationship that I have read. I have always been in intrigued with Callas's story but I had never read anything regarding Onassis. This book gave me a good start of Onassis and his relationships along with his story of being a ship tycoon. This is so much like a Greek tragedy. Read this well written book!

simply wonderful
This book is absolutely sensational, impossible to put down, exciting, excellently written and researched, and impartial. Congratulations, Mr.Gage! ... Read more

Book Description

At seventeen, Kiki Feroudi Moutsatsos began a job at Olympic Airways that would change her life. She worked in the office of the most renowned man in Greece, and within a year she was Aristotle Onassis's personal secretary.For the next nine years, the last of his life, Moutsatsos was a key player in Onassis's professional and private worlds. She spent her days in his office, assisting him with important business matters, and her evenings at his sister Artemis's villa, mingling with his family and their world-famous guests. She was witness to his personal relationships with the most significant people in his life. She worked side by side with his children, Alexander and Christina, planned his travels with mistress Maria Callas, and even managed the details of his wedding to Jacqueline Kennedy in 1968. The Onassis Women is Moutsatsos's privileged insider's account of this larger-than-life figure and the grand objects of his love.Moutsatsos greatly admired Jackie, and the two women developed a close relationship, extending beyond their ties to the Onassis family. Moutsatsos visited Jackie in New York, staying in her Fifth Avenue apartment, and kept in touch with her throughout her life, even in the weeks before her death.Moutsatsos also became an intimate friend to Aristotle's daughter, Christina. Though often rebellious, Christina was always desperate for her father's love. Moutsatsos observed their volatile relationship as well as the push-pull element between Onassis and the women in his life. With the possible exception of Jackie, all these women--his mistress, his sisters, and his daughter--needed Aristotle's approval and suffered to gain it at almost any cost. It is through understanding the importance of these relationships, and their interconnectedness, that we begin to truly perceive the charmed and haunted lives of Jackie, Maria, Christina, and Aristotle Onassis. Index. ... Read more

Reviews (15)

Jackie and Aristo, from the other side of the pond
It's about time we got a view of the whole Jackie/Aristo (not Ari, it turns out) thing from the other side of the Atlantic. This book is breezy and gossipy and so sycophantic I have to wonder how much of it it true. Kiki justifies and sugar-coats as much as she can (is she still getting Onassis money???? One has to wonder...), yet you can't help but see that the Onassis clan were an abusive, debauched, and addictive bunch. She rationalize EVERYTHING--physical and emotional abuse, drunkeness, profligate spending, ruthlessness, cheating...but after all, Aristio was really a very CHARISMATIC and RICH man who'd made it up from poverty. Other sources dispute many of Kiki's facts. If she gets even the most basic details wrong, what else is suspect (i.e., Jackie's governess/cook Marta Sgubin is ITALIAN, not Spanish, and her name is Marta, not Martha)? Everything. Does that make Onassis behavior any less reprehensible? It shouldn't. I have to say that this book makes me think the Onassis family did themselves in, no matter how much Kiki spins it.

Pleasant
I've read almost all the Jackie books on the market, and what I most appreciate about Moutasatsos's book is the way she acknowledges the rumors and innuendos of other authors while putting forth her perspective as exactly that -- nothing more. While her memory is generous, she also strikes me as honest; she really loved her employers, so she saw them as noble, honorably-intentioned people with understandable flaws. I would recommend this book to anyone who's tired of the unceasing merry-go-round of Onassis-related rumors who wants to hear about this family from someone near it but not of it. Also, Moutsatsos, with co-writer Phyllis Karas, tells her story in lyrical English I can only guess was translated from the native Greek... resulting in a particularly musical and poetic narrative, quite an exception for a translation.

This book got four stars from me, not five, merely because there IS a bit of fairy tale stardust sprinkled through it... Moutsatsos does come across as a bit of the Onassis groupie, her only failing.

Nothing new. Too much author's self-importance!
Although Kiki admired and grew to love her employers, I think she sugar coated many of her observations. She also made quite a few mistakes, so I wonder how much is true. The anecdotes she narrates are mostly known, she could have made up the whole thing. In all, a good account of a family who despite their wealth -or maybe on account of it- had many failures. But she does present them as human beings, with their good and bad qualities. Easy reading, but not much content.

A moving account of lives touched by tragedy
Kiki Mousatsos has told a moving account of of lives that seemed to be like fairytales, but sadly ended in nightmares. It is so rare to be able to read chapter after chapter graced with such love, insite and devotion to these mysterious and real people that the author so obviously carries with her to this day. The fact that she knew and loved these people like family and was given permission to write this moving story gives this book a rare quality. Grab some tissues and enjoy your read.

Compassionate view by author
I found this book provided a compassionate and insightful view about the lives of the Onassis family. Kiki, the author, was closely involved in the family's affairs and business matters, so her perception is close enough to dispell some of the gossip and rumors often associated with their tragedies. The descriptions of the Greek lifestyle and traditions are beautiful. I thoroughly enjoyed reading this book while on vacation in the Greek isles portrayed by the author. ... Read more