Reviews (2)

no myths or lies here
I really enjoyed this book. It was very refreshing. There are so many books out there on the Kennedy's that are there just to sling mud, portraying rumors and myths as facts. It was nice to read a book about Jackie, the person. It's an uplifting book about a remarkable woman.

This book reveals many secrets about Jackie's private life.
I would recommend this book to anyone but especially to women. The story of Jacqueline Kennedy Onassis is about a public figure who is very different from the private person. It tells the inside story of her life. There are many things she was holding from the public. Her life behind the camera as the wife of the president is particularly interesting. This book reveals many secrets about the life of Jackie and her family. There are also many good lessons to be learned. I think that this book is well written and holds you attention. Morgan Bush ... Read more

Amazon.com

Edward Klein shows that, despite their glamorous public lives, the Kennedys were as human as the rest of us. Through details on the couple's most intimate moments, including Jackie's defloration in a Paris elevator, and her amusing, albeit catty, disposition (kept under wraps because of her political standing), the ivory tower of their existence seems less out of reach. With chapter titles such as "Indiscreet," "Love Lies Bleeding," and "Pleasure First" the book reads a bit like a romance novel, but with a biting touch of reality. ... Read more

Reviews (16)

The Myth of Camelot
Jackie was Edward Klein's editor at Doubleday. The book opens with chapters that present a detailed biographical sketch of Jackie's pre-JFK life and then proceeds into how Jack and Jackie came to be.Joe Kennedy needed to find a suitable wife for John if he was to advance in politics.He turned to his good friend Arthur Krock of The New York Times who suggested Jackie Bouvier.Joe approved so Arthur contacted newspaperman Charlie Bartlett, Jackie's friend, to arrange an introduction.

John was the [fun loving person] of Washington with one of the worst attendance records in the House of Representatives.He found girling and parties much more interesting.Jack liked the challenge of conquest but once conquered he soon lost interest and was incapable of sustaining a prolonged relationship.He stated that he wanted to have children but he wanted to marry a woman who was chaste because he was worried about being compared to other men.

Both Jack and Jackie's families had way too much control over their adult children's lives! Joe Sr. even picked out Jackie's engagement ring.At the luncheon where the mother's were to discuss their wedding, Jack acted like a scolded child.It was pretty clear that he didn't want to kiss bachelorhood goodbye and that he wasn't in love with Jackie.

Janet Bouvier Achincloss, Jackie's mother, felt her daughter was marrying beneath her and was putting up a fight with Rose about how the wedding should go.Joe Kennedy intervened.He sneered at the Archinclosses because they were old money but were unable to maintain it and keep living in style.In the end, Joe got his very public very politic wedding.

Jack treated Jackie as the means to an end: the White House and children.Jack even had a brief fling with Jackie's sister Lee while Jackie was in the hospital.Friends implied that the Cuban Missile Crisis caused Jack to take a renewed emotional interest in his immediate family and that he and Jackie very close.Yet he still had a mistress?Please!

This book has it all scandal, [physical attraction], drugs and lies!It takes an intimate look inside the world of old money WASPs and of the newly moneyed and their views of each other. Klein used primary sources including interviews with many of the people in Jack and Jackie's life.One thing Klein never discussed was what Jackie's feelings and beliefs were surrounding the conspiracy theories that have grown up around JFK's murder.A great companion book to this is The Day John Died by Christopher Andersen, which focuses on really both JFK's children's lives before and after the assassination.I simply could not put either book down!

A Touching Report
ALL TOO HUMAN is a touching history of the marriage of John Fitzgerald Kennedy to Jacqueline Bouvier.

In hindsight, Jacqueline had as big an impact on modern culture as did her first husband, perhaps simply because her life lasted longer.Yet this is not to belittle her actual influence; an entire generation of women modeled themselves on her style. Her dignity, her educational standards, her appreciation of the arts, all proved to be an inspiration to the world.

Author Edward Klein has turned writing about the Kennedys into a cottage industry. This particular biography is a nice balance to many other harsher reports, focusing here as he does on the good points of the marriage of this President and his First Lady.

Frothy and surprisingly touching
Reading this book I was reminded of an old 70s song, "Fooled Around and Fell in Love." For in this version of the Kennedy marriage, that seems to be what happened. Jackie needed to make a "successful" marriage that would land her "real money," and time was running out. After all, she was 24 years old! JFK needed a wife, a good and presentable CATHOLIC wife, to enhance his image with voters. From these cynical beginnings, according to Klein, a marriage was born and eventually, true love. Over the decade they spent together, Jack and Jackie came to appreciate and depend on one another, bonded by unique experiences and the love of their children. I have one quibble with the point-of-view of this book: Jackie became one of the most influential women of the century because of her marriage to this powerful man. To pretend otherwise is just silly. And for Klein to insist that Jackie was "important" politically is also silly. This is not Hillary Clinton, Rosalyn Carter, or Eleanor Roosevelt we're talking about here. She represented her nation well overseas, honored her husband's memory gallantly and worked hard at being a good mother. There is much to admire about her. But she was neither a policy wonk nor a political powerhouse, but a glamorous celebrity, and therefore historically, she was no where near as important as her first husband.

Unpresidented Prose
As of the most successful dynasties in American history, the Kennedy's have left an indelible mark on our nation unlike any other. Millions have proclaimed John to be a hero exemplifying American characterizes and Jackie exhibiting class beyond compare. Klein challenges the status quo by revealing the first family's moral devoidness throughout the course of their campaign and life in general. No longer worthy of the apotheosis so many Democrats have been attempting to bestow to the martyred president, rather a man with extreme moral vicissitude unforeseen by the watchful eye of the nation. Who would have ever thought that before the 1960 election Kennedy had been in the company of a young female to "relax" him before he took center stage against a nation of voters? John shines through as a hedonistic man looking to secure power and politics for his personal discourse. Jackie is seen as a modern day Anna Nichole Smith for her power and money-hungry ways in looking at Jack as a means to build upon herself even greater. Although these themes are a bit cynical and I don't agree with all of them, Klein writes with such chosen linguistics that simply reading will be candy to your eyes. If you are looking for a fun read recounting one of our nation's most memberable presidents All Too Human (or the John Stephanopoulos novel by the same name) are in a class by themselves.

A touching story.
This book tells the touching story of the relationship between Jack and Jackie Kennedy. It is well-written and is a sympathetic telling of their relationship. I enjoyed it very much - better than most of the books about the Kennedys on the market. ... Read more

Reviews (10)

Amusing, mezmerizing, campy, hypnotic
I simply couldn't put this book down. Kostenbaum's charming analysis of Jackie O's celebrity is dazzling, eccentric and riveting. This book is by no means a biography; rather, the author introduces us to the Jackie of his imagination. Kostenbaum's highly personal essays tranform Jackie-watching from a mere sport into a delightful intellectual and spiritual excercise. It is truly a pleasure to read a book by an author who treats his subject with such playfulness and affection. However, certain Jackie fans might consider such treatment sacreligious and are not likely to enjoy this book.

supercharged koestenbaum!
While not the singular masterpiece that his "The Queen's Throat" remains, "Jackie Under My Skin" is an engaging, visceral, punchy romp through a classic American icon and an endearing ideal, while being at the same time a great deal more. Koestenbaum's theme remains the search surrounding our dilemma, he's a master of disguise that ends revealing everything . This book immediately goes under YOUR skin when you read it-- Koestenbaum's famous 5000 eyes see everything and keep everything balanced and bright. His literary sense is overpowering. The words leap and bite and nearly drown you sometimes. Koestenbaum's version of reality is clean and robust; this is a writer in jaw-dropping command of his thought. The prose is often downright shocking. Koestenbaum's preference to explore the threads of existence and suffering in a uniquely devoted way marks him out among modern writers, and he's an academic, as well; riding a single vein, a single notion, into the most perfect art, he is all about genius and the so-called redemptive aspects of literature, without ever leaving the most modern, most natural sensibility. His work is marvelous to READ. I would commend to you everything this fellow has written, especially "The Queen's Throat", but this book on Jackie is awfully fine.

FUN FACTS
Funny categories on our beloved Jackie. A book that one cannot possibly put down and definitly cannot forget. A Real treasure!!!!!! FOR QUESTIONS OR DISCUSSIONS ON JACKIE ONASSIS, PLEASE E-MAIL ME AT MellissaLD@aol.com. HOPE TO HEAR FROM YOU!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Unbelievably penetrating analysis of our finest First Lady
Talk about deconstruction! This book both unravels and revels in the mystery of the divine Jackie O. Koestenbaum is obviously deeply reverential toward his subject matter, and although his fanciful writing sometimes veers to the extreme, leaving the reader a bit side-swiped in the process, the journey is exhilirating. Although often flippant in tone, this book is ultimately spiritual in nature, an astute dissection of perhaps our greatest modern American legend.

Koestenbaum creates his own genre
Koestenbaum's book is combustible, flamboyant, a marvel. He is a poet-essayist who has taken as his subject here something about which he truly feels passion, and the object of this affection just happens to be a well-known cultural icon, someone from America of the 1960s but not of it, a hieroglyphic who after her reign as First Lady ended reinvented herself completely several times over before Madonna ever thought of it, all without ever discussing herself or even acknowledging the power of her own celebrity. Other than Salinger, she may be one of the last U.S. icons, since an icon, by nature, does not speak about itself. Koestenbaum's love for Jackie O is unbounded; one can only imagine that she, editor and wordsmith that she finally became, would have appreciated Koestenbaum's wild exploration of her images. This book is funny and provocative, whether or not you know anything about Jackie! But as the other reviews here would suggest, Jackie lovers should stand forewarned -- they probably won't like this book. ... Read more

Amazon.com

Christopher Andersen chronicles the childhoods of both Jack Kennedy and Jackie Kennedy and then examines the fabled marriage--a great American love story, as he calls it. Andersen suggests that had it not been for reasons of personal gain, the two would never have married. She would never have married him if he hadn't been rich, and he would never have married her if his father hadn't insisted for career reasons. Andersen, who has also authored books on Madonna and Mick Jagger, contends that Jackie's sheer glamour and poise helped maintain the illusion, even in the most difficult of times. ... Read more

Reviews (11)

A speed-freak in the White House:How grand
This is a little light and PEOPLE magazine-y in parts.But every now and then the author slips the needle in and lets you know he knows more than he's letting on.The catty remarks by Gore Vidal spice things up. I particularly liked the account of Kennedy's personal physician, Dr. Max Jacobson -- the legendary "Dr. Feelgood." Four times a week, right up until the assassination, the Doc was shooting Kennedy up with a special concoction; 25% vitamins and 75% pure dexedrine.Isn't it nice to know we had a speed-freak tweaker in the White House with his twitching fingers on The Button?(Funny how they didn't teach me these stuff in 6th grade History class.)Beneath Jack Kennedy's "vigorous, youthful" facade was a sickly man. And the same can be said for the whole shiney, air-brushed "Kennedy myth" and the rot just underneath the surface.They don't call it "the Kennedy curse" for nothing. Truly, the Kennedys are one of the sickest families to ever inflict themselves on the American body.

Spectacular
A fast read.Many details and secrets that probably would not have been published if either of them were alive.

I never really knew!!
This book brought to light so many things that I never really knew.Concerning, love, drugs, children and affairs.It was a great book, but I found the last 20 pages or so to be the most captivating.This book left me with a sad feeling, because the Kennedy's were finally beginning to truly love each other when JFK was shot.This just goes to show that life isn't always fair.This was a great book that I would recommend for anyone to read.

WONDERFUL
A fabulous account of the childhoods and marriage of Jack and JackieKennedy. Fantastic pictures of the famous couple. A Wonderful read!!!! FORQUESTIONS OR DICUSSIONS ON JACKIE ONASSIS, PLEASE E-MAIL ME ATMellissaLD@aol.com. HPOE TO HEAR FROM YOU!!!!!!!!!!

Extremely Interesting, Very Informative
As someone who was born in 1977, all that I know of the "Camelot" era has come to me second and thirdhand. This book was great at setting to rest some of the myths surrounding this famous coupleand also presented some information I hadn't seen anywhere else about theirprivate lives in the White House. I discovered many things about Jackie'slife growing up that I did not know previously, and how those eventsfactored into her decision to marry JFK.

Sometimes the author's narrativestyle can be jarring ("'And what would be wrong with,' she askedcoyly, 'that?'") but I do not find the dialogues related to beunrealistic. It was rather like reading a transcript of an extra-longepisode of A & E's "Biography" television show. The book isan engaging account of a typical high-society marriage with a tragic"what might have been in this marriage" twist resulting from Mr.Kennedy's assasination so soon after the death of their baby brought thetwo much closer together. ... Read more

Reviews (5)

A Good Read, but be prepared for the ugly truth...
...that JFK's Presidency and marriage to Jackie were not romantic fairytales. Heymann has done an impressive amount of interviews and research, and while some readers may argue with his interpretation of certain events, there's no doubt that he's done his homework. This book follows Jackie from her surprisingly unhappy childhood, which was marked by an ugly divorce between her dashing yet womanizing and big-spending father and her uptight, social-climbing and rather cold mother. Jackie was a definite daddy's girl - she adored her father and never seemed to care too much for her mother or the second man she married, wealthy stockbroker Hugh Auchincloss. Thereafter comes the familiar story - she grows into a beautiful and sophisticated young woman (who emphasizes her father's French ancestry and ignores her mother's Irish heritage), attends the best women's private schools in the US and France, becomes engaged to a nice yet boring young stockbroker; but then breaks off the engagement when she begins dating a sexy and exciting US Senator who just happens to come from a wealthy family - John F. Kennedy. Then comes the high-society wedding, the rocky marriage (made so by Jack's constant cheating and Jackie's aloofness from her in-laws), her glamorous tour as First Lady, the assassination, and finally her controversial marriage to the crude yet wealthy Greek shipping magnate Aristotle Onassis. Although Heymann tries to be objective and fair to his subject, the book does seem to emphasize the flaws and dark sides of Jack and Jackie. Some readers who have a romantic view of Jackie may not want to read this book, as it will definitely destroy your romantic view of her. Yet while she had her flaws, there's no denying her now-legendary poise during her husband's funeral or her outstanding role in raising her two children to be good citizens and good people. Overall, this is an engrossing warts-and-all biography of one of the most famous women of the twentieth century.

Much, much better than I had expected
As a British reader born after the 1960s I did not really know that much about Jacqueline Kennedy Onassis. A friend gave me this book and I began to read it out of a sense of duty. By the end of the first chapter I was hooked! I thought this was an exceptionally well written and researched biography that gives a very balanced view of a fascinating personality and period. The background to the Onassis wedding and the sections on JFK are especially good. It has left me wanting to read more about America in the 60s.

Fascinating!
This gives you everything you've ever wanted to know about Jackie Onasis. It also mentions on the first page that Jackie's mother's family were "lace curtain Irish." Many people mistakenly believe that Jackie was all French, but she was actually half French. Her mother's family emigrated from Cork, Ireland, and her grandfather had a rags to riches story. That wealth is the main reason that Jack Bouvier married Jackie's mother, Janet Lee. The whole book is exciting, and I would recommend it to anyone.

If you've never read on Jackie, PLEASE buy this!
I bought this book about five years ago at my local bookstore just out of curiosity. I liked the cover and the price and I've always like biographies. I had seen the mini-series on the book and so I was interested in reading the book. I seriously could not put it down! Like all biographies, the first two or three chapters were sort of boring, but once it started talking about Jackie's childhood and beyond...well, what can I say...ever since, I've been a "Jackie" fan. I really fell in love with her character and her style. She had to put up with so much in life and she endured such loss and heartache in life, yet she remained a rock in crisis until her tragic death. It has been said that she taught the world how to mourn during the death and burial of her first husband, President John F. Kennedy. This saying is so true. She mourned with elegance and grace and yet the world embraced her and still embraces her memory even four years after her own death. ! ! She truly is a legend and one of the most famous women who has ever walked this earth. This book will really open your eyes to a beautiful lady who was extremely intelligent and classy....A Woman Named Jackie.

A thorough account of Jackie O's life - the good and the bad
Through the author's detailed investigations, Jackie's life unfolds with all its complexities as one of the century's most famous lifestory. Here you can catch a glimpse of the "real" Jackie in excerpts of actual conversations and observations that the author was able to obtain from those who knew her on a personal level and those who watched from the sideline. The conspiracies and the tragedy of the Kennedy White House years can shock the reader. The Onassis years and her life of high society can also entertain the reader. At times, Jackie comes through, remaining unscathed and there is a sense of admiration for her. However, intimate details of Jackie's foibles can also generate criticism. This is a true biography of Jackie Kennedy Onassis and makes for entertaining as well as worthwhile reading in that you gain a proper perspective of who she really was. I highly recommend it. ... Read more

Reviews (3)

Great for a small biography!
the biography is fairly good, and there are a few rare pictures.
I suggest it to all people who want to know a little bit about Jackie Kennedy. I suggest it to all kennedy's fans( for the pictures).
If you want to know more read: Jackie by Donald Spoto or Jackie by James Spada

Great book
This is a great book about all Jackies life.It seems to take you through her life.It takes you from her younger days in george town to her days to the white house.It takes you through her jet setting like life.If you like biographys,Jackie kennedy onassis,even people who travel this book will be great for you to read.

Great book
This book seems to take you all through jackies life.It explains how much she loved her children and how much she loved traveling.It seems to take you into her like jet setting life.Its a great book to read if you like jackie,biographys,exciting lives,or even people who travel alot ... Read more