My interest in the topic is both professional and personal. I spent four decades teaching about modern American history and the Kennedy presidency at Yale, Oxford, and the University of Oklahoma. A chance encounter with John F. Kennedy, Jr., at Brown University in the spring of 1981 led to a friendship that lasted until his tragic death in 1999.
A few months after President Kennedy’s assassination, Mrs. Kennedy sat down for a series of interviews with the historian and family friend Arthur Schlesinger, Jr. Her eight hours of tapes, which remained sealed until a few years ago, are riveting and full of intimate, powerful details.
It is most rewarding to hear her whispery voice as she offers often pointed observations about the people and events that shaped her husband’s presidency.
To mark John F. Kennedy's centennial, celebrate the life and legacy of the 35th President of the United States.
In 1964, Jacqueline Kennedy recorded seven historic interviews about her life with John F. Kennedy. Now, for the first time, they can be read in this deluxe, illustrated eBook.
Shortly after President John F. Kennedy's assassination, with a nation deep in mourning and the world looking on in stunned disbelief, Jacqueline Kennedy found the strength to set aside her own personal grief for the sake of posterity and begin the task of documenting and preserving her husband's legacy. In January of…
When I covered the White House as a young reporter I was always more interested in understanding what was happening in the upstairs residence than in what briefings we were getting from the president’s advisers in the Roosevelt Room. I was raised with the understanding that in the end everyone is equal and that no one, no matter how powerful they are, gets out of the human experience. I think that’s what makes me interested in iconic women, from Elizabeth Taylor to Betty Ford. There’s nothing I like better than reading their letters and trying to understand what made them tick, and how they navigated their complicated and very public lives.
This book is written by my dad, Christopher Andersen, who introduced me to the sheer fun of storytelling.
We know so much about Jackie as a first lady, and in the immediate aftermath of President Kennedy’s assassination. But his book gets at the heart of who she was and how she was able to pick up the shattered pieces of her life and reinvent herself. She made mistakes along the way, and they only make her more likable and more relatable.
The book celebrates her intelligence in a way I hadn’t considered before. Her life was shaped by tragedy, but it wasn’t the only thing that defined her.
A best-selling biographer traces how Jacqueline Kennedy Onassis became a cultural icon after her husband's assassination, explaining how she gracefully dealt with remarriage, money, romance, children, stepchildren, illness, aging, and at last her own mortality. Tour.
My interest in the topic is both professional and personal. I spent four decades teaching about modern American history and the Kennedy presidency at Yale, Oxford, and the University of Oklahoma. A chance encounter with John F. Kennedy, Jr., at Brown University in the spring of 1981 led to a friendship that lasted until his tragic death in 1999.
I love this book because of the unique perspective of the writer. Clint Hill was the secret service agent who jumped on the back of the presidential limousine in Dallas to protect Mrs. Kennedy in the seconds after the fatal bullets had struck the President.
His description of that moment and the following hours is as riveting as it is disturbing. Hill, assigned to protect the First Lady, spent more time with her than anyone else, and their relationship continued after she left the White House.
Clint Hill will forever be remembered as the agent who jumped onto the car after President Kennedy was shot and clung to the sides of the car as it sped toward the hospital. Now, in Mrs. Kennedy and Me, he recounts those painful memories along with his fonder recollections of the First Lady's strength, class, dignity, and beauty during the time he was assigned as her personal agent.
Hill was by Mrs. Kennedy's side for some of the happiest moments in her life as well as the darkest. He was there for the birth of John, Jr. as well as…
Officially, I’m an award-winning author and specialist in the fields of psychology, trauma, and spirituality. I’m also a professionally trained therapist, clinical ethicist, and researcher. Ultimately, I’m an ardent believer that the same life that brings us joy also (sometimes) brings us pain. More importantly, that every aspect of life has a role to play in making us who we are today and who we’ll be tomorrow. We don’t always have control over the events in life, but the script we live by is ours to write—and write it we must, as only we can. I’m also a three-time heart attack survivor.
This book has long been a favorite of spiritual seekers, with its sweeping panoply of stories from antiquity’s gods and goddesses to the world’s wisdom traditions and more.
This is a book for those interested in the universality of human experience across time and culture—which I am. But even more, it opens our minds to the importance of a story itself.
Campbell helps readers understand that truth and fact are different—indeed, there are several kinds of truth: empirical truth, which depends on objective data, and also mythopoetic and narrative truth, which rely on symbols and stories to provide meaning.
NATIONAL BESTSELLER • An extraordinary book that reveals how the themes and symbols of ancient narratives continue to bring meaning to birth, death, love, and war.
The Power of Myth launched an extraordinary resurgence of interest in Joseph Campbell and his work. A preeminent scholar, writer, and teacher, he has had a profound influence on millions of people—including Star Wars creator George Lucas. To Campbell, mythology was the “song of the universe, the music of the spheres.” With Bill Moyers, one of America’s most prominent journalists, as his thoughtful and engaging interviewer, The Power of Myth touches on subjects from…
My interest in the topic is both professional and personal. I spent four decades teaching about modern American history and the Kennedy presidency at Yale, Oxford, and the University of Oklahoma. A chance encounter with John F. Kennedy, Jr., at Brown University in the spring of 1981 led to a friendship that lasted until his tragic death in 1999.
I love how Smith tells the intimate story of Jack and Jackie’s relationship in the White House. Plenty of accounts describe how JFK exercised power during his brief tenure as president. That is not what interests Smith. She highlights how the pressure of the office impacted the relationship between the First Lady and the President.
There are plenty of juicy tales about JFK’s womanizing and his abuse of prescription medication. What I found most fascinating was how Jackie coped with it all. The Kennedys in Smith’s account are complicated and complex, talented and flawed, but above all else, very human.
In GRACE & POWER: THE PRIVATE WORLD OF THE KENNEDY WHITE HOUSE, New York Times bestselling author Sally Bedell Smith takes us inside the Kennedy White House with unparalleled access and insight. Having interviewed scores of Kennedy intimates, including many who have never spoken before, and drawing on letters and personal papers made available for the first time, Smith paints a richly detailed picture of the personal relationships behind the high purpose and poiltical drama of the twentieth century's most storied presidency. At the dawn of the 1960s, a forty-three-year-old president and his thirty-one-year-old first lady – the youngest couple…
I am a historical fiction writer, specializing in ancient history through a female perspective. My first series, The Queens of the Conquest, follows the wives of the men fighting to be King of England in 1066 for a vitally neglected take on a key year. My second, Shakespeare’s Queens, revisits three of the bard’s greatest female characters via the real historical figures who inspired them. I love the way fiction can lift facts, settings, and cultures into something hopefully more vibrant than a straightforward history lesson and aim to offer the best possible time travel for readers. I believe the books on this list do that beautifully.
The most up-to-date of my choices, this fabulous book is about Jackie Kennedy and Maria Callas, who both had relationships with Ari Onassis. I had obviously heard of both women in their very different contexts as wife of the president and famous opera singer but didn’t know how intimately they were connected. I love the way Gill Paul’s sparky, pacey novel brings both women to life in all their flawed, fascinating glory.
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…
My fascination with Audrey Hepburn formed at an early age. My mother used to regale me with stories about taking trips to her local theater to watch My Fair Lady or seeing models at mall fashion shows sporting Audrey’s mod-inspired hairstyle from How to Steal a Million. Hearing these memories made Audrey feel familiar, like a distant relative and not an untouchable Hollywood movie star. As a child, I watched her movies, and over time, I began collecting books, vintage magazines, and photographs. In 2010, I created my website, Rare Audrey Hepburn, with the intention of sharing my discoveries with fellow Audrey fans.
When I was brainstorming the outline for my book, I knew from the outset that I wanted to explore Audrey’s noteworthy friendships, including the larger-than-life luminary Diana Vreeland. Diana transformed the way the general public saw fashion. During her time at Harper’s Bazaar and Vogue her influence was seen on every page, from the creative backdrops, to the imaginative themes, to her vibrant use of color.
This book by Eleanor Dwight beautifully captures the true essence of Vreeland. Dwight navigates Vreeland’s journey with glamorous photos that are grounded by her elegant narrative. It goes without saying that Diana was more than a footnote in Audrey’s life. She was a friend, an admirer, and a collaborator.
Diana Vreeland has been called the fashion editor of the twentieth century. An epic self-mythologizer, she had an incredible aura of glamour, a great eye, and a genius for life. Diana Vreeland reveals the growth of her professional prowess and gives an account of her personal history, at the same time as it brings to life Mrs. Vreeland's pizzazz, humour, and flamboyant personality. A dynamic cast of characters accompanies Diana Vreeland's story. There are more than 300 illustrations, photographs, and drawings, many by the best fashion photographers of her time such as Louise Dahl Wolfe, Irving Penn, Cecil Beaton, and…
My passion for the Kennedy family dates to seeing JFK in person as a young child. Shortly after his death, my mother purchased a children’s book about the 35th president, which I read repeatedly and still have in my extensive “Kennedy library.” It led me to pursue a professional career as a political scientist, specializing in the presidency and First Ladies. I now direct Presidential Studies at the University of Virginia’s Miller Center, am a member of the Advisory Board of the John F. Kennedy Presidential Library Foundation, and serve on the Board of the White House Historical Association, founded by Mrs. Kennedy in 1961.
This e-book by The Washington Post’s book editor is the moving account of Jackie’s heartbreaking loss of her and the president’s baby, Patrick, in August 1963. Always plagued by problematic pregnancies, resulting in a miscarriage and stillborn daughter in the 1950s, as First Lady Mrs. Kennedy hoped to give birth to her and the president’s third child (to join five-year-old Caroline and two-year-old John Jr.) in September 1963. But the baby arrived more than a month early, suffering from undeveloped lungs, and died within two days. Jackie and Jack were devastated. As they clung to each other in grief, the First Lady told her husband that she couldn’t bear to lose him. She would just three months later.
A sensitive portrait of how a profound tragedy changed one of America's most prominent families.
Their marriage is the subject of countless books. His presidency has been pored over minute by minute by historians. They lived their lives in the public eye and under a microscope that magnified all of their flaws, all of their scandals, all of their tragedies. Now Steven Levingston, nonfiction editor at the Washington Post, presents a devastating story in unprecedented detail, about a child John and Jackie Kennedy loved and lost. On August 7, 1963, heavily pregnant Jackie Kennedy collapsed, marking the beginning of a…
Many of my books have been on the British monarchy. Jackie was the only figure who came close to being an American queen. Her clothes drew me to her at first. Later, her decision to have an editorial career after her children were grown gave me the idea for a new biographical approach to her. I still admire Jackie for that, as well as for her low-key regality, about which she had a sense of humor.
Sarah Bradford also wrote one of the best biographies of Queen Elizabeth II. Her Jackie biography is authoritative. It covers everything from her parents' troubled marriage to Jackie’s own disappointing liaisons with powerful men. The life she built in New York after the death of Onassis is proof of what an extraordinary woman she was, perhaps the most important of America’s former first ladies. She was in a league with Eleanor Roosevelt and Abigail Adams. She had an intelligence and discernment equal to theirs but with style all her own.
Now the subject of a new film directed by Pablo Larrain, "Jackie", starring Natalie Portman
Acclaimed biographer Sarah Bradford explores the life of Jacqueline Kennedy Onassis, the woman who has captivated the public for more than five decades, in a definitive portrait that is both sympathetic and frank. With an extraordinary range of candid interviews-many with people who have never spoken in such depth on record before-Bradford offers new insights into the woman behind the public persona. She creates a coherent picture out of Jackie's tumultuous and cosmopolitan life-from the aristocratic milieu of Newport and East Hampton to the Greek…
Many of my books have been on the British monarchy. Jackie was the only figure who came close to being an American queen. Her clothes drew me to her at first. Later, her decision to have an editorial career after her children were grown gave me the idea for a new biographical approach to her. I still admire Jackie for that, as well as for her low-key regality, about which she had a sense of humor.
This volume collects the memories of people who were close to Jackie. Carl Anthony met Jackie, and better, he was in touch with Jackie’s friend Nancy Tuckerman, who helped him with addresses and telephone numbers. These are people who were willing to speak about Jackie following her premature death at the age of 65. Anthony is also an expert on presidential wives and families.
irst Lady Hillary Clinton, Ted Kennedy, childhood friends and dozens of others share their fond recollections of Jackie in As We Remember Her. This is the first time many of these people have ever spoken publicly about her, and the portrait that emerges is quite revealing. Behind the image of one of the 20th-century's most recognizable icons was a surprisingly substantive person -- a woman whose intelligence and political savvy were as remarkable as her famous charm and beauty. Jackie plunged fresh out of college into the world of journalism with her own girl-on-the-street column for the Washington Times. As…
