Aileen I. (isbellart) reviewed Mrs. Kennedy: The Missing History of the Kennedy Years on + 9 more book reviews
Very much liked it. Wish there had been more. It stopped after the assasination.
Lynda C. (Readnmachine) reviewed Mrs. Kennedy: The Missing History of the Kennedy Years on + 1439 more book reviews
This devastating account of the Kennedy presidency, concentrating on Jackie Kennedy, utterly reveals the couple's publicly-perceived âCamelotâ to be as mythical as the original.
Author Barbara Leaming routinely swaps her researcher's hat for an armchair analyst's notepad, painting a portrait of two profoundly dysfunctional people whose marriage was in many ways an utter sham, yet was based on an almost pathological need for one another, but on extremely unusual terms. Jack Kennedy is shown as a man without a moral center â a serial adulterer, overwhelmed early in his presidency by the Bay of Pigs disaster, and so crippled by decades-old charges of cowardice against his father that he was unable to develop a foreign policy of his own. Jackie doesn't fare much better, as Leaming draws a sympathetic but devastating portrait of a young woman whose self-confidence was gutted by a mother who convinced her that she was physically ungainly and essentially unlovable.
The book traces Jackie's path through the early days of Kennedy's presidency, when she was determined to remain out of the political spotlight and concentrate on creating the perfect private and public stage at The White House, and shows her coming into her own as a partner in Kennedy's foreign influence and a constant emotional support when he was under attack by political rivals. Yet through it all, Jackie was aware of â and in many ways, complicit in â her husband's constant infidelities. They certainly lived as husband and wife â she underwent five pregnancies, three of which ended in heartbreak â but he seemed constitutionally incapable of (or uninterested in) monogamy. These casual couplings â with few exceptions, one can hardly dignify them as âaffairsâ â were constant, and an open secret not only among the couple's circle of friends, but throughout the White House staff and press corps.
One can only ask, time and time again, why Jackie would put up with this kind of behavior â why she didn't end the marriage, or at least why she would choose to arrange her schedule so as to provide Kennedy with party times unencumbered by the presence of spouse and children in the vicinity. Leaming's repeated assurances that the couple had a deep and unique (if not particularly sexually satisfying) love, tends to wear thin around the edges.
No study of the Kennedy presidency, of course, can avoid its abrupt and traumatic end. Leaming's minute-by-minute description of the assassination, replete with minute and graphic details, is utterly devastating to read. And even though Jackie takes front and center stage from this point onward, her genuine devotion to her husband, and her single-minded determination to create a safe environment for their children is constantly the foundation for the subsequent life choices she makes.
A brief epilogue carries Jackie through her brief flirtation with an ambassadorial career, with her support of Bobby Kennedy's doomed presidential campaign, and into her controversial marriage to Aristotle Onassis.
Students of mid-20th-century history will find much to consider within these pages. Readers for whom Jack Kennedy was âtheirâ first president may be shattered at the depth of the deception that went on out of the public eye. And anyone who struggles to understand the complexities of our most intimate relationships will come away with more questions than answers.
Author Barbara Leaming routinely swaps her researcher's hat for an armchair analyst's notepad, painting a portrait of two profoundly dysfunctional people whose marriage was in many ways an utter sham, yet was based on an almost pathological need for one another, but on extremely unusual terms. Jack Kennedy is shown as a man without a moral center â a serial adulterer, overwhelmed early in his presidency by the Bay of Pigs disaster, and so crippled by decades-old charges of cowardice against his father that he was unable to develop a foreign policy of his own. Jackie doesn't fare much better, as Leaming draws a sympathetic but devastating portrait of a young woman whose self-confidence was gutted by a mother who convinced her that she was physically ungainly and essentially unlovable.
The book traces Jackie's path through the early days of Kennedy's presidency, when she was determined to remain out of the political spotlight and concentrate on creating the perfect private and public stage at The White House, and shows her coming into her own as a partner in Kennedy's foreign influence and a constant emotional support when he was under attack by political rivals. Yet through it all, Jackie was aware of â and in many ways, complicit in â her husband's constant infidelities. They certainly lived as husband and wife â she underwent five pregnancies, three of which ended in heartbreak â but he seemed constitutionally incapable of (or uninterested in) monogamy. These casual couplings â with few exceptions, one can hardly dignify them as âaffairsâ â were constant, and an open secret not only among the couple's circle of friends, but throughout the White House staff and press corps.
One can only ask, time and time again, why Jackie would put up with this kind of behavior â why she didn't end the marriage, or at least why she would choose to arrange her schedule so as to provide Kennedy with party times unencumbered by the presence of spouse and children in the vicinity. Leaming's repeated assurances that the couple had a deep and unique (if not particularly sexually satisfying) love, tends to wear thin around the edges.
No study of the Kennedy presidency, of course, can avoid its abrupt and traumatic end. Leaming's minute-by-minute description of the assassination, replete with minute and graphic details, is utterly devastating to read. And even though Jackie takes front and center stage from this point onward, her genuine devotion to her husband, and her single-minded determination to create a safe environment for their children is constantly the foundation for the subsequent life choices she makes.
A brief epilogue carries Jackie through her brief flirtation with an ambassadorial career, with her support of Bobby Kennedy's doomed presidential campaign, and into her controversial marriage to Aristotle Onassis.
Students of mid-20th-century history will find much to consider within these pages. Readers for whom Jack Kennedy was âtheirâ first president may be shattered at the depth of the deception that went on out of the public eye. And anyone who struggles to understand the complexities of our most intimate relationships will come away with more questions than answers.
