Customer Reviews

Jacqueline Bouvier Kennedy Onassis: The Untold Story

This is not a standard biography, nor, thank goodness, another account of all the scandals. It is primarily a study of the Kennedy marriage, the assassination, and JBK's struggle to overcome both experiences and to emerge a stronger woman, her own woman.....not an adjunct to a man....as a survivor. It begins tellingly with Jackie at 16 playing the demure, coquettish girl to a pompous older man (probably about 19) who is enlightening her about Petain and France, although she probably knew far more about the subject than he did. She is ready to step out into her adult world of high society but already knew that was not really the life she wanted. The first chapters of the book are about her early years as a deb, her boyfriends, and then her job at the Washington Herald, where she moved into an entirely different world and met JFK, as well as a couple of other men who were to influence her. The marriage is described in all its agony, humiliation, and heartbreak. There are details which I do not recall reading about previously: that two weeks after their "idyllic" honeymoon in Acapulco, JFK wanted her to return home while he stayed a couple of weeks more in California and home at that time was JFK's small bedroom in his parents' house. (Didn't they make plans before the wedding????) There was also the Swedish blonde with whom JFK made plans to see during his life threatening operation spinal operation and the slow recuperation. He even told her and her family that he would divorce Jackie to marry her. All in all, this intelligent, charming charismatic leader comes across as goatish (Leaming's word), thoughtless, unkind, and reprehensible.

What is made evident is that Jackie, despite the trappings of wealth and fame, had a difficult life and experienced a number of humiliations, including that of her parents' divorce and acrimonious relations. JFK's pursuit of other women was just one more burden as well as the humiliating way his family and political cronies disparaged her for her "differences". The loss of two babies, plus an earlier miscarriage only compounded the grief and unhappiness. Leaming's interpretation of her life really begins with the aftermath of the assassination and Jackie's suffering which Leaming equates with PTSD. She recounts Jackie's continual reliving of those few bloody and traumatic seconds which changed her life, her nightmares, her reactions to noise and crowds, her drinking, her thoughts about suicide. All during this time, she also had to contend with LBJ's and RFK's attempt to use her for political purposes. The debacle over the Manchester book is more evidence of Jackie's obsessive desire to be in control. With RFK's assassination, Jackie's feelings of desperation increased as the nightmares began again. Her marriage to Onassis was not so much for the money as for the safety and security she thought he could provide for her and her children. That marriage too ended in humilation, despite the wealth she was able to obtain.

After Onassis' death, Jackie began another stage of her life, perhaps the most successful and fulfilling of all, as an editor. Leaming sees this as the best evidence of her survival and ultimate victory over the trauma of the assassination. The was made possible by her ability to control her surroundings and her life. The tendency to be a control freak may have initially arisen out of her childhood unhappiness but it was given full range in the last years of her life when she had the money. In the end, of course, she could not control the cancer that finally defeated her.

Whether or not the PTSD argument works medically or psychologically in Jackie's case, her experiences of constant flashbacks and nightmares, of depression, certainly have a similarity with those experiences of soldiers who have suffered trauma. When Ted White met with her and then wrote the famous "Camelot" article, what was never published were his notes from that hours-long interview when she relived the assassination over and over again. White was horrified by it all. She was still exhibiting the same type of memory years afterward.

This is a fascinating and thoughtful study of a woman who still has a special place in American history and iconography. It is sympathetic but not fawning. Leaming does not depict Jackie as an innocent, sweet, saint but as a real woman with strengths and weaknesses, virtues and vices. She was intelligent and had meaningful friendships with men as disparate as Robert McNamara, Joseph Alsop, and Harold MacMillan (and these were friendships, not romances). Her letters to them and their replies are quoted, more evidence of her complexity and intelligence.

I read this in two days because I simply could not put it down...a trite statement but true. It is a thoughtful and ultimately moving account of a woman who has been depicted in so many different ways. Leaming's interpretation is that she was ultimately a survivor and she quotes something Jackie said when asked about what she was most proud about in her life. Her response, more or less, was that she was someone who had lived though great difficulties but had emerged relatively sane.

An amazing story fantasticly well written in true Barbara Leaming style. BL delves deeply into JBKO's mind and describes what nightmare she was living through within herself while keeping up appearances on the outside.
A fascinating read which was very hard to put down until the last page had been devoured.

A fascinating and compelling read from start to finish......

Barbara Leaming's story of Jackie Kennedy, one of the iconic women of the 20th century is such a fascinating story from her early life and dreams to the horrific events in Dallas that psychologically changed her forever. The book is such a wonderful story of a woman whom we have all read about but now see her struggles trying to overcome and deal with a serious illness that so few of us knew about until more recently.
I loved reading about her rebellious side when she was young, the trauma that she lived with and how it affected so many people she loved and cared about her, the letters she wrote and did not send and how she eventually was able to learn to overcome her struggles. It is a must read!

The familiar events of JBKO's extraordinary life are told through the prism of PTSD, how those 8.5 seconds in the back of a Lincoln Continental changed her life forever. It's a compelling supposition, and makes moments in the former First Lady's life -- like her battles with William Manchester and lawsuit against Ron Gallella -- look less like willful fits of pique and more like a desperate attempt to restore order to her shattered universe.

I also appreciated how Ms. Leaming went all the way back to Jackie's adolescence and her youthful years as a career girl to put her post-Dallas life in sharper relief.

For such a detailed study of the woman's life, I was surprised by omissions. First of all, none of her pre-Onassis romances are examined. How did she feel about Lord Harlech (beyond not wishing to marry him), John Warnecke and Ros Gilpatric (not even mentioned)? What was her relationship with her children like as they grew? How did she (a woman who came to value control over all) respond to her mother's Alzheimer's and her father's/sister's alcoholism? Was she terrified of the genetic component of these conditions, and the dangers they posed to her quest to control her fate?

Those criticisms aside, I appreciate this portrait of a gallant lady, a woman who struggled to overcome the tragedy that threatened to define her.

Stop what you are doing and buy this book. I am a longtime Leaming fan so have been eagerly awaiting her latest work. This book really delivers and, excuse the hackneyed phrase, "you won't be able to put it down". This is a compelling and important story beautifully rendered. The PTSD that resulted from the unimaginable trauma of the assassination in Dallas is a lifelong affliction which Jackie valiantly lives with and, later in life, in some ways, finds some peace and comfort. The "back story" of the remarkable Kennedy/Camelot years is simple riveting. One marvels at the new research and source material....her work in this regards sets the very highest standard. I have always admired Jackie but all the more so now. There is a wonderful English thread that runs through this book as well as Leaming's two previous books of the Kennedys, one on Jack and one on Jackie. I think about it, the three make a terrific "trilogy". I own the two earlier books and am thinking of rereading them. I feel sure you'll agree with me about "Jacqueline Bouvier Kennedy Onassis: The Untold Story" and want to read the earlier works as well. I can't wait to see what Leaming will tackle next!

I am always eager to read books concerning the Kennedy family, as many others are, as well. This book, while interesting, did not have "untold" things in it, except for the author's claims of PTSD and weaving her story around that particular diagnosis. Don't know if was accurate or not -- and it certainly fits the situation Mrs. Kennedy endured. So I guess this book did not meet my expectations but it was worth the read.

I was highly anticipating the receipt of this book. Having worked quite a bit in the field of Post Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD) debriefings, I wanted to read about how Jackie Kennedy Onassis dealt with her trauma in a time when PTSD was not even recognized. This book took a totally different slant on her life than any other book written about her.

However, I must say that the first 100 pages were so full of detailed minutiae that I found it extremely boring. I probably would not have continued reading the book except that I felt it a duty to write a review since I was given the book by the publishers. I finally just started skimming pages. The parts where Leaming writes about Jackie’s behavior was very interesting. Now that so much is known about PTSD it is clear that Jackie was definitely suffering from it. The book is raw in telling some not very likeable aspects of John and Jackie Kennedy’s personalities. I think much of the minutiae could have been left out. But I did grow to respect her in a way I never had before. She fought a disorder that can be totally devastating and have resulted in many suicides. She had to fight this on her own which takes a lot of strength.

I did not find the book very emotional as some did. I suspect this was because I wasn’t so sure of her love for John. For those who love anything about the Kennedys, you will like it. For others, probably not so much.

I wasn't sure that I wanted to read yet another biography of Jackie Onassis. But as soon as I started reading, I could not put this book down. Brilliantly and compellingly written with absorbing details of her early life until the tragedy of Kennedy's assassination. People do not appreciate that someone in the glaring limelight that Jackie O had to endure had to use all her power to retain her dignity. And at the same time battling PTSD!

I found this exploration new and moving.

It's impossible for anyone to understand what it must have been like for Jacqueline Kennedy to watch her husbands head shot off right in front of her - under the scorching scrutiny of the entire world watching. That PTSD, depression, suicidal depression - were not understood in 1963 as they are today. Nor were there the wide variety of therapies and medications that we have today available then.

It was not at all uncommon for Catholic women of that time to speak to a priest in times of crisis. Nothing illustrated for me how inadequate people understood the impact of that kind of trauma than when members of the Kennedy family-- Bobby & Ethel - as well as others- felt that " Jackie just wasn't trying hard enough to get over it". That truly captures the perspective of the time, Bobby and Ethel were simply a product of their time, they were not being cruel- although seen through today's lenses, their views could, understandably, be seen as harsh.

This book captures the trauma Jackie went through, the pain, suffering yet November 22, was not the end of it. As if that wasn't enough, the fear and anxiety she must have gone through as she realized her husbands disgusting behavior would be coming public knowledge - it is unimaginable how any mother, much less one who lived under the public microscope must have felt knowing there was nothing she could do to shield them from this humiliation. Bad enough she had to live with that shame while he was alive, now even worse - to watch her children shames as well. .The constant fear of violence confirmed as Martin Luther King was killed followed by her brother in law. I was siting I the car with my parents, when I was about 14& the radio announcer said Jackie Kennedy was going to marry Ari Onassis. And live in Greece. I had no idea who he was, but I was very aware of JFKs assassination & the assassination of RFK & I recall thinking : why wouldn't she want to go live someplace warm, sunny and far away from all this violence?Be safe.

The understandable panic attacks, frantic world traveling to escape - only to come back & realize you couldn't runaway from what she was dealing with. Continuing distrust of everyone, fear for safety of herself and children never stopped. But, the children grew up with none of the public tantrums & drunken antics so common to many of their cousins and other young celebrities today. They competed college, got advance degrees & became a credit to their mother and father. But, more than anything-they were the the final proof that their mother survived and survived In spite of it all.

Jacqueline Kennedy was an American original. She was human, had her faults. But, conducted herself with grace and dignity throughout her life. You would never see her in public with low cut outfits, pants with more holes than fabric, disheveled, screaming at people - as is so common today. You would not see her on Oprah, Dr. Phil or giving interviews to People Magazine.

She gave us dignity and class, grace under pressure. How sad her example of how to behave has become nearly extinct. Wonderful book.
Breezie

The book was a sensitive review of a complex lady. Jackie spent the rest of her life attempting to heal from that horrific day in Dallas.