Rating: 
Summary: Show some respect!
Review: Dear Publishing Industry,I have not read the book nor do I intend to. I came across it recently through one of your book clubs(to which I belong). It seems that every month you make a point of investing a great deal of time and money into marketing a book about overrated celebrities by star-struck authors. In this time of soaring unemployment, downsizing and corporate fraud that befall the majority of the population, you choose to release a book which praises two individuals who had never experienced the above injustices but whose families instigated them and themselves contributed nothing to the progress of humanity. Both Diana and Jackie were born into privilege. Both had the fortune of living in the best neighbourhoods, attending the best schools, socializing with the rich and famous, and not working at all to survive. Both passed on the same experiences to their children. Paparazzi, constitutional obligations and in-laws who bestow multimillion dollar trust funds on their grandchildren are thankfully not the misfortunes that many single mothers deal with. They are blessed. For they deal with gang leaders who harass kids in low income areas, dumb-downed education system, dead-end jobs to pay for food and apartments smaller than Diana and Jackie's bathtubs, apathetic fathers, humiliation and gender discrimination. Certainly such trivial worries do not merit hundrends of books. It seems that many talented struggling writers from all cultures, fields and walks of life also do not merit to be published to educate the semi-illiterate public about the many accomplishments of the world. Why not publish books every year about such groundbreaking women as Marie Curie, Susan B. Anthony, Golda Meir, Sofia Kovalevskaya, Billie Jean King, Evita Peron, Simone de Beauvoir, Oriana Fallaci ... (unfortunately the space provided does not allow for all of them to be listed)? It is also unfortunate that there is not enough space for them in your budget.
Rating:
Summary: Show some respect!
Review: Dear Publishing Industry, I have not read the book nor do I intend to. I came across it recently through one of your book clubs(to which I belong). It seems that every month you make a point of investing a great deal of time and money into marketing a book about overrated celebrities by star-struck authors. In this time of soaring unemployment, downsizing and corporate fraud that befall the majority of the population, you choose to release a book which praises two individuals who had never experienced the above injustices but whose families instigated them and themselves contributed nothing to the progress of humanity. Both Diana and Jackie were born into privilege. Both had the fortune of living in the best neighbourhoods, attending the best schools, socializing with the rich and famous, and not working at all to survive. Both passed on the same experiences to their children. Paparazzi, constitutional obligations and in-laws who bestow multimillion dollar trust funds on their grandchildren are thankfully not the misfortunes that many single mothers deal with. They are blessed. For they deal with gang leaders who harass kids in low income areas, dumb-downed education system, dead-end jobs to pay for food and apartments smaller than Diana and Jackie's bathtubs, apathetic fathers, humiliation and gender discrimination. Certainly such trivial worries do not merit hundrends of books. It seems that many talented struggling writers from all cultures, fields and walks of life also do not merit to be published to educate the semi-illiterate public about the many accomplishments of the world. Why not publish books every year about such groundbreaking women as Marie Curie, Susan B. Anthony, Golda Meir, Sofia Kovalevskaya, Billie Jean King, Evita Peron, Simone de Beauvoir, Oriana Fallaci ... (unfortunately the space provided does not allow for all of them to be listed)? It is also unfortunate that there is not enough space for them in your budget.
Rating: 
Summary: Nothing new!
Review: Frankly, this book brings nothing new. We already know everything there is to know about Jackie and Diana don't we? I sincerely regret having paid such a high price to read what I already knew! I found the book "Mrs. Kennedy" much much more interesting.
Rating: 
Summary: These two ladies were eerily similiar
Review: I admit that I knew a lot about Princess Diana but didn't know that much about Jackie. I found it fascinating to learn how similiar these two women where and could not put the book down once I started reading it. It was so well written that I felt like I was there witnessing what was happening. I am glad that I purchased this book and have it in my library. I highly reccomend it if you admired the late Jackie and or Princess Diana.
Rating: 
Summary: Slipshod Research
Review: I am halfway finished with this book. And while it reveals really nothing new, I am appalled at the errors in research. Someone didn't do their homework. I plan to finish reading it only to see how many more mistakes I can find. On page 88, there is no capitalization for the titles Duke of Windsor and Duke of York. Calling them instead the duke of York and the duke of Windsor. Page 101 talks about the Royal train incident. It has been told in other biographies that there was no incident. There was no one on the train. Page 129 states that MAJESTY magazine was launched in 1981 to cover stories on Diana. I did a bit of research today on that and received an email saying that the magazine started in 1980, six months before Diana appeared on the scene. They had their 20th anniversary issue in 2000. On page 129, the author writes of the royal women who garnered various types of attention. Loved the Queen Mum and Princess Marina, the Duchess of Kent. Since the author seems to be speaking of the present time, Marina is dead. The current Duchess of Kent is Kathryn. There is alot of skipping around and in some instances, it is assumed that the reader should already know certain information. The general idea of the book is clever, but personally I have gotten much more enjoyment from reading separate books on these two fascinating women.
Rating:
Summary: Slipshod Research
Review: I am halfway finished with this book. And while it reveals really nothing new, I am appalled at the errors in research. Someone didn't do their homework. I plan to finish reading it only to see how many more mistakes I can find. On page 88, there is no capitalization for the titles Duke of Windsor and Duke of York. Calling them instead the duke of York and the duke of Windsor. Page 101 talks about the Royal train incident. It has been told in other biographies that there was no incident. There was no one on the train. Page 129 states that MAJESTY magazine was launched in 1981 to cover stories on Diana. I did a bit of research today on that and received an email saying that the magazine started in 1980, six months before Diana appeared on the scene. They had their 20th anniversary issue in 2000. On page 129, the author writes of the royal women who garnered various types of attention. Loved the Queen Mum and Princess Marina, the Duchess of Kent. Since the author seems to be speaking of the present time, Marina is dead. The current Duchess of Kent is Kathryn. There is alot of skipping around and in some instances, it is assumed that the reader should already know certain information. The general idea of the book is clever, but personally I have gotten much more enjoyment from reading separate books on these two fascinating women.
Rating:
Summary: Not as good as it should be
Review: I have now finished the Diana and Jackie book and found even more things that left me wondering about the research and editing of this book. On pages 148-150, there is mention of how Maud Shaw is going to be left behind in England after the JFK dedication at Runnymead. In one paragraph, we read about the affection between Jackie and Miss Shaw, and in the next, we read that Miss Shaw has been fired with no explanation as to why. One of the biggest research errors occurs on page 167. The book refers to the fact that Jackie was a friend of FDR's daughter Kate. His daughter's name was Anna. He had a granddaughter named Kate who was born in 1936, making them seven years apart. Jackie lived in NYC until she was 13, which would have been in 1942. At that time, Kate, the granddaughter would have been only six. I am not convinced that they would have been friends with that age difference. Not likely between a 13 year old and a 6 year old. Page 189 again lists the royal duchesses with the lower case d, instead of Duchess. But more than that calls Marina, the Duchess of Kent, as someone who fit into the archtypical mode of her time. That is far from the truth with Marina. Once when being criticized by her mother in law, Queen Mary, Marina told her, "your George may not like it, but my George does." Hardly something that a stereotyped duchess would have said to her queen. There are several more instances in the book where the titles of Duke are listed in the lower case. It looks like a spellchecker was used more than the human eye. I feel that the shame of this promising book is that the editing and research were careless, hardly a fitting tribute to the meticulous editing of Jackie. This is not one book that will remain in my collection.
Rating: 
Summary: A suprising and thoughtful look at two icons.
Review: I thought that this book might be a normal sort of celebrity biography, you know, a little (GARBAGE), a little flash, but DIANA AND JACKIE is much more, and much better than that. It's really a look at the lives of these two influential woman and how they impacted both the English and American cultures. There are a lot of thought provoking questions here...was Diana being a good mother when she aired her grievences regarding her marraige to the entire world? Was that a selfish act? Or a selfless one, in that millions of other women could identify with her, and feel less ashamed about themselves. Jackie Kennedy comes across as a very sympathetic person, one who tried (successfully) to raise her children as close to normally as possible within the Kennedy whirlwind. The parallels between their two lives are extraordinary and very telling. It's really amazing to see how these two branches of a very strong tree grew in completely different directions. I really liked this book and would recommend it without reservation.
Rating:
Summary: Excellent dual biography
Review: If you think that these two women are lightweights, read this book. This is an interesting and highly readable accounting of two lives that fascinated many millions of people. Even the fact that they've been gone for many years hasn't dimmed our enthusiasm or interest. Diana and Jackie does an excellent job of taking these two mega-stars and presenting them as women, well rounded, human and sympathetic characters in a really vivid story.
Rating:
Summary: Two extraordinary Everywomen
Review: Mulvaney has taken two of the most famous women of the last century and compared and contrasted them in the roles all woman are cast in (Maidens, Mothers, Myths). It's a fabulous idea and makes for very entertaining reading. While there is little new in this book about the lives of either of these well-documented ladies, the parallells Mulvaney draws between them gives the familiar information a fresh spin. (In particular, I'd never considered how similar their relationships to their formidable mothers-in-law were!) The cultural comments are interesting, too. Jackie maintained her (stereotypically English) "stiff upper lip" to the very end, while Diana took the more typically American, open approach to her life and her problems. And that's why I believe these women continue to fascinate. As much as we read about Jackie, we'll never feel we knew her -- she's an enigma we keep trying to solve. And it was Diana's very openness and accessibility that made her so appealing.
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