America's Queen: A Life of Jacqueline Kennedy Onassis

Rating:
Summary: By Far The Best Biography of Jacqueline Kennedy Onassis
Review: I am fascinated by Jackie; I have read every biography of her out there and been disappointed because the authors couldn't hold my interest (and if they can't hold my interest with this subject how can they call themselves writers!). The one exception is the book by Stephen Birmingham, but even that pales in comparison to Bradford's book. Finally, someone who writes a compelling narrative and has genuine insight into her subject instead of dwelling on the tabloid aspects of Jackie's life. I have a later edition of this book and I have not noticed the typos and mistakes that are frequently mentioned in other reviews (perhaps they have been corrected?). The photos are well chosen and there are many new ones. A great book and a great read too.

Rating:
Summary: The Real Jackie Kennedy
Review: I highly recommend this biography of Jackie. It is, by far, the best I've read. Bradford shows us a real woman, not a myth, and there are so many stunning details. The personality of Jackie's mother particularly shocked me. How did Jackie survive the terrible, manipulative environment of her childhood? This biography highlighted such salient details, such as: - her mother's prevention of her being escorted down the aisle by her father on her wedding day; - Jackie and her sister Lee taking a back seat in the Auchincloss step family; - Jackie's unique contribution to American history through her championing of the arts (redecorating the White House, securing the Egyptian exhibit for the Metropolitan Museum of Art, preserving the Grand Central Station in NYC, and so much else) - Most of all, the strength of her marriage to JFK. Bradford did a better job than any other biographer, of explaining the complex and developing relationship between the two. I highly recommend this book!

Rating:
Summary: A Life Examined
Review: There is a historical error in the first sentence. Mrs. Kennedy was a thirty-four year old widow in November, 1963, not thirty-five. It is nitpicking, yes, but then the rest of the book seems to be built upon our taking Bradford's research as thorough. For all of that, the image of Jackie is compelling, and struck this reader as accurate. She is less than convincing describing an affair between RFK and JBK, and her relationship with Lee Radziwill could stand with a bit more fleshing out; Bradford assumes we know more about it than surely most do. She also seems to lose interest in Onassis after the death of her second husband, and the last twenty years receive short shrift. But there is something here which keeps you turning pages, so I would recommend it, though not as much as Evan Thomas' new bio of RFK.

Rating:
Summary: A truly well-balanced account of an extraordinary person
Review: This elegant biography of Mrs. Kennedy-Onassis may very well be the most insightful work to gain a hold on this elusive American legend for some time to come. Unlike the many other Jackie biographies out there, this one is neither worshipful nor excessively fault-finding with its subject. Yet, while exposing the more unpleasant sides of Jackie's character (in essence, bringing her down to earth with the rest of us), "America's Queen" takes a decidedly more sympathetic route, with numerous sentences that begin "To be fair to Jackie...", etc, that assures that her virtues are still underscored while her faults are not smoothed over. In other words, skip the Christopher Anderson/Edward Klein accounts if you opt for exhaustively researched information and intimate analyses rather than sensationalistic prose and shameless cashing-in on Jackie's fame.
I also think it is a tribute to the author as much to the subject that this book is so exceptional. I think Jackie, lover of literature that she was, would have appreciated the numerous literary passages preceding some of the chapters. Despite her distaste for exposure, I think she would have felt in fairly good hands had she known the diligence, sensitivity, and, most of all, sense of morality and balance that went into this work.