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Reading Jackie: Her Autobiography in Books Audiobook
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(3.03) - 384 listener ratings
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Jacqueline Kennedy Onassis never wrote a memoir, but she told her life story and revealed herself in intimate ways through the nearly 100 books she brought into print during the last two decades of her life as an editor at Viking and Doubleday. Based on archives and interviews with Jackie's authors, colleagues, and friends, Reading Jackie mines this significant period of her life to reveal both the serious and the mischievous woman underneath the glamorous public image. Though Jackie had a reputation for avoiding publicity, she willingly courted controversy in her books. She was the first editor to commission a commercially-successful book telling the story of Thomas Jefferson’s relationship with his female slave. Her publication of Gelsey Kirkland's attack on dance icon George Balanchine caused another storm. Jackie rarely spoke of her personal life, but many of her books ran parallel to, echoed, and emerged from her own experience. She was the editor behind bestsellers on the assassinations of Tsar Nicholas II and John Lennon, and in another book she paid tribute to the allure of Marilyn Monroe and Maria Callas. Her other projects take us into territory she knew well: journeys to Egypt and India, explorations of the mysteries of female beauty and media exploitation, into the minds of photographers, art historians, and the designers at Tiffany & Co. Many Americans regarded Jackie as the paragon of grace, but few knew her as the woman sitting on her office floor laying out illustrations, or flying to California to persuade Michael Jackson to write his autobiography. Reading Jackie provides a compelling behind-the-scenes look at Jackie at work: how she commissioned books and nurtured authors, as well as how she helped to shape stories that spoke to her strongly. Jackie is remembered today for her marriages to JFK and to Aristotle Onassis, but her real legacy is the books that reveal the tastes, recollections, and passions of an independent woman.
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"An excellent biography that focusses on Jacqueline Kennedy Onassis' life after her marriages, as a working woman editing books, first for Viking Press and then for Doubleday. I couldn't really figure out how a biography would come out of this period of her life based upon the books she edited, but amazingly the author gives a lot of insight into Jackie Kennedy's character, values, taste and even her attitudes about JFK, etc.. Much information and insight is gleaned from the books she chose to promote and edit and through her correspondence from that period with her authors along with interviews with these same authors and her co-workers. Not only was this an interesting slant on an interesting woman, but it provided me with many leads for future reading! My Kindle now has about 8 free samples waiting to be read - and most of them are NOT about the Kennedys!"
— janet (5 out of 5 stars)
Reading Jackie Listener Reviews
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" Another terrific biography. I have to admit this is another part of history that I'm pretty ignorant about. I know who the Kennedys are (you couldn't be American and not know that) but I just didn't know much about their background. I still don't know a lot about the Kennedys but I did learn a lot about Jacqueline Kennedy Onassis. I had no clue that she had ever worked as an editor. I felt like I got to know who she was by reading about her choices in books to publish and her feelings about the subject matters and the authors. I also liked her sense of humor. "
— Melissa, 2/8/2014 -
" Okay...this book might actually have been three stars. It might actually have been two stars, but anything associated with Jackie? FOUR STARS! I LOVE HER! I just LOVE HER! She's so classy and so wonderful! I just LOVE HER! The book...eh. I will admit, it was a bit of a slog. Sort of like the medicine head you get when you've taken Ny Quil and woken up in the middle of the night. It was interesting though and the information about Jackie and her life was, as always, fascinating. I might try it again when perhaps I'm a little more on my game, but this is a definitely must try for Jackie/Kennendyphiles. "
— Samantha, 2/5/2014 -
" Could not finish....this woman is just not interesting to me at all. "
— Kathy, 1/20/2014 -
" I enjoyed this book and actually came away respecting Jackie Onassis more than I had expected. "
— Jonelle, 1/11/2014 -
" This was given to me as a birthday gift. Several chapters---early on---are so informative and intriguing but the re are some chapters that are a bit tedious. But it was good to know that in becoming an editor she felt she was finally her own person. Just finished this 15 minutes ago. "
— Barbra, 12/8/2013 -
" It is interesting to read although I do not really enjoy the author's writing style. The extent of her influence is impressive. "
— Kristen, 12/7/2013 -
" I found this book partially boring because it was a lot of name dropping of people I'm not interested in. There were some bit stories that were interesting, but overall this book may be interesting to those in the NY trade field or from Jackie's or the baby boomer generation. "
— Keri, 12/1/2013 -
" I loved this. It was a fair portrayal of a lady who has been criticised and lauded in equal measures. It didn't focus on her time as the wife of Kennedy or Onassis, but on her successes as an editor with Doubleday in New York. Fascinating! "
— Laura, 11/6/2013 -
" this was not a bad book -- I just probably should not have read it right after I read "Jackie as Editor." Basically, it was the same book "
— Cindie, 10/14/2013 -
" Not incredibly well written and the author was a little too fawning but the subject matter was fascinating, ie what Jackie's list of books she published as an editor revealed about her character, apart from her two famous husbands. "
— Julia, 9/27/2013 -
" This was a book selection for my book club. I didn't find it interesting, and didn't finish it. There are too many other really great books to read, and I'd rather spend my time on them. "
— Debbie, 7/25/2013 -
" For me, this doubles as a look back on a certain period in publishing as well as an intriguing glimpse into the amazing woman's life. Was interesting to be reading it when the tapes of her conversations with Arthur Schlesinger in the months after JFK's death. "
— Lee, 5/16/2013 -
" Loved this book. Learned so much about Ms. Kennedy as an individual in her own right and not just as JFKs widow or Onassis' spendthrift wife/widow. She was very intelligent and contributed significantly to our lives. "
— Pat, 10/5/2012 -
" I did really enjoy this book. I guess the part that took me by surprise, was when a friend's name was part of the book! "
— Deana, 7/16/2012 -
" Interesting perspective of Jackie, particularly in her later life as a publisher. "
— Susan, 5/10/2012 -
" I love reading about Jackie Kennedy, and this was very interesting. It covers her working days in New York with two publishers, which presents a different side of her. "
— Alice, 4/28/2012 -
" It's readable, but in the end it didn't provide even much information about such a fascinating character/subject. "
— Zooey, 3/11/2012 -
" I read this at the same time I read "Jackie As Editor." Same material covered, more or less. Both agreed she was a good editor and chose books that mirrored her own passions. <br/> <br/> "
— False, 3/15/2011 -
" I enjoyed reading the story behind the books she worked on ... a fascinating perspective of the independent, feminist side of Jackie O. "
— Dana, 3/13/2011 -
" There was nothing terrible about this book. I was just not all that interested. "
— Pam, 2/15/2011 -
" this was not a bad book -- I just probably should not have read it right after I read "Jackie as Editor." Basically, it was the same book "
— Cindie, 2/11/2011 -
" Very good read. Im an editor so I look for books (fairly rare) about editors. I recommend this book. Ordered one of the books she did in the 80s about india. A lovely book too. This book set me thinking. "
— Susan, 2/10/2011 -
" Good book on Jackie O...takes a more interesting bigraphical aspect by examining her career as a book editor for two major publishing firms. Jackie has usually been defined by the two famous men in her life, it's refreshing to see this perspective. "
— Georgiann, 2/6/2011 -
" Loved this book. Learned so much about Ms. Kennedy as an individual in her own right and not just as JFKs widow or Onassis' spendthrift wife/widow. She was very intelligent and contributed significantly to our lives. "
— Pat, 1/29/2011 -
" Interesting perspective of Jackie, particularly in her later life as a publisher. "
— Susan, 1/19/2011 -
" I found this book partially boring because it was a lot of name dropping of people I'm not interested in. There were some bit stories that were interesting, but overall this book may be interesting to those in the NY trade field or from Jackie's or the baby boomer generation. <br/> "
— Keri, 1/17/2011 -
" Interesting look at Jackie O's editorship at Viking and DoubleDay. It mentions a lot of books that I have written down for future reading. "
— Elizabeth, 1/11/2011
About William Kuhn
William Kuhn is a biographer and historian, and the author of Reading Jackie, a look at the personality of Jacqueline Kennedy Onassis through the books she chose to edit at Viking and Doubleday. His other books include Democratic Royalism, Henry and Mary Ponsonby, The Politics of Pleasure, and Mrs. Queen Takes the Train. Kuhn lives in Boston, Massachusetts.
About Susan Denaker
Susan Denaker is an actress and Earphones Award–winning narrator. Her extensive theater credits include numerous plays in the West End of London, national tours, many English rep companies, including a season with Alan Ayckbourn’s company in Scarborough. In the US, she has appeared in Our Town and Sweet Bird of Youth at the La Jolla Playhouse and Breaking Legs at the Westport Playhouse.