Jackie After Jack; Portrait of the Lady - Hardcover

Christopher Andersen

Hardcover

ISBN 10: 0670881600 ISBN 13: 9780670881604

Publisher: Viking, 1998

Synopsis

In this much-anticipated sequel to his 1996 bestseller, Jack and Jackie, Christopher Andersen is certain to make headlines once again with his revealing account of Jacqueline Kennedy Onassis's life after Jack Kennedy's death.

Incredibly, Jackie Kennedy was only thirty-four when JFK was assassinated. With her husband, she had already captured the world's imagination. Without him, she would hold it until her own death three decades later--achieving a kind of global fame unsurpassed in this century. Billions of words have been written about her, but Jackie guarded her privacy so fiercely that the last thirty years of her life are still veiled in secrecy and mystique. For the first time, drawing on previously sealed archival material and newly declassified government documents--as well as important sources who have agreed to speak here for the first time--Jackie After Jack paints a sympathetic yet often startling portrait of Jackie in all her rich complexity.

Alone after Dallas, Jackie summoned the strength, grace, and dignity to go on. Along the way, she struggled with those all-too-familiar issues of remarriage, in-laws, money, romance, children, stepchildren, grandchildren, aging, illness, and finally, her own mortality. Jackie After Jack traces this remarkable woman's personal journey--and captures the drama, humor, glamour, and heartache that have made Jackie an enduring source of fascination and inspiration for millions.

Startling new revelations include:

The surprising truth about the men in Jackie's life before Onassis and after;

Important new information about Dallas and its aftermath -- including Jackie's battle back from depression;

How she avoided the Kennedy pitfalls in raising her children; what impact Jackie had on JFK, Jr.'s romantic life;

Jackie's spiritual quest, and never-before-revealed detailsabout her final days.

About this title

Review

Christopher Andersen's biography Jackie After Jack: Portrait of the Lady is one steamy read. Andersen claims that Jacqueline Kennedy Onassis had affairs with Frank Sinatra, Marlon Brando, William Holden, Warren Beatty, Bobby Kennedy, and JFK's former deputy secretary of defense. He writes that she battled anorexia, was both cheap and greedy, wore big sunglasses partly to cover up bruises inflicted by Aristotle Onassis, tried to sign Princess Diana to a book contract, offered Camilla Parker Bowles $2 million to tell all, and dropped Michael Jackson, whose book she edited, when he stood accused of pederasty. Andersen suggests that the cancer that killed Jackie may have been related to her habits: 40 to 60 cigarettes a day, four decades of carcinogenic black hair dye, and countless amphetamine and carcinogenic steroid injections in the 1960s. Many of the juiciest stories come from anonymous sources, and, according to Newsweek, Brando's biographer claims the alleged Jackie tryst never happened. Some readers may feel that Andersen's breezy assertion that Castro murdered JFK may not fully settle the question. But many will want to check out what ex-People magazine writer Andersen has to say. --Tim Appelo

About the Author

Christopher Andersen is the critically acclaimed author of 17 books, which have been translated into more than 20 languages worldwide. A former contributing editor of Time and senior editor of People, Andersen has also written hundreds of articles for a wide range of publications including Life magazine and The New York Times. He lives in Connecticut.

About this edition

• Publisher: Viking
• Publication date: 1998
• ISBN 10: 0670881600
• ISBN 13: 9780670881604
• Binding: Hardcover
• Edition number: 1