Jackie, Janet & Lee : the secret lives of Janet Auchincloss and her daughters, Jacqueline Kennedy Onassis and Lee Radziwill / J. Randy Taraborrelli.
Material type:
TextPublisher: New York : St. Martin's Press, 2018Copyright date: ©2018Edition: First editionDescription: 514 pages, 16 unnumbered pages of plates : illustrations (some color) ; 25 cmContent type: - text
- unmediated
- volume
- 9781250128010
- 1250128013
- 973.92092/2 23
| Item type | Current library | Collection | Call number | Status | Date due | Barcode | Item holds | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Book
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Bedford Public Library Non-Fiction | Non-Fiction | 973.92092 TAR | Available | 32500001748111 |
Enhanced descriptions from Syndetics:
*THE INSTANT NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER*
A dazzling biography of three of the most glamorous women of the 20th Century: Jacqueline Bouvier Kennedy Onassis, her mother Janet Lee Auchincloss, and her sister, Princess Lee Radziwill.
"Do you know what the secret to happily-ever-after is?" Janet Bouvier Auchincloss would ask her daughters Jackie and Lee during their tea time. "Money and Power," she would say. It was a lesson neither would ever forget. They followed in their mother's footsteps after her marriages to the philandering socialite "Black Jack" Bouvier and the fabulously rich Standard Oil heir Hugh D. Auchincloss.
Jacqueline Bouvier would marry John F. Kennedy and the story of their marriage is legendary, as is the story of her second marriage to Greek shipping magnate Aristotle Onassis. Less well known is the story of her love affair with a world renowned architect and a British peer. Her sister, Lee, had liaisons with one and possibly both of Jackie's husbands, in addition to her own three marriages--to an illegitimate royal, a Polish prince and a Hollywood director.
If the Bouvier women personified beauty, style and fashion, it was their lust for money and status that drove them to seek out powerful men, no matter what the cost to themselves or to those they stepped on in their ruthless climb to the top. Based on hundreds of new interviews with friends and family of the Bouviers, among them their own half-brother, as well as letters and journals, J. Randy Taraborrelli's book paints an extraordinary psychological portrait of two famous sisters and theirferociously ambitious mother.
Includes bibliographical references (pages 461-494) and index.
Beginning -- A mother's duty -- Heady times -- White House years -- Trouble brewing -- Assassination -- Recovery -- Transition -- Onassis -- Shifting tides -- Enduring -- "Well, happy and loved ..." -- Epilogue: Passages.
A portrait of Jacqueline Bouvier Kennedy Onassis; her mother, Janet Lee Auchincloss; and her sister, Princess Lee Radziwill, discusses their ambitions, status-seeking marriages, illicit liaisons, and psychological profiles.
"Do you know what the secret to happily-ever-after is?" Janet Bouvier Auchincloss would ask her daughters Jackie and Lee during their tea time. "Money and power," she would say. It was a lesson neither would ever forget. They followed in their mother's footsteps after her marriages to the philandering socialite 'Black Jack' Bouvier and the fabulously rich Standard Oil heir Hugh D. Auchincloss. Jacqueline Bouvier would marry John F. Kennedy and the story of their marriage is legendary, as is the story of her second marriage to Greek shipping magnate Aristotle Onassis. Less well known is the story of her love affair with a world renowned architect and a British peer. Her sister, Lee, had liaisons with one and possibly both of Jackie's husbands, in addition to her own three marriages--to an illegitimate royal, a Polish prince and a Hollywood director. Based on hundreds of new interviews with friends and family of the Bouviers, among them their own half-brother, as well as letters and journals, J. Randy Taraborrelli paints an extraordinary psychological portrait of two famous sisters and their ferociously ambitious, yet extremely protective, mother.-- Adapted from dust jacket.
Reviews provided by Syndetics
Library Journal Review
Those enamored of the Kennedy mystique will enjoy this intimate look into the intertwined lives of the Bouvier, Auchincloss, Kennedy, and Radziwill families. Taraborrelli, a prolific author of popular biographies including the best-selling After Camelot, creates a tabloid-style story of money, power, politics, and family-a voyeuristic look into a world of patrician privilege. While Jackie Kennedy Onassis has been the subject of countless chronicles, less is known about details of her relationship with her mother, Janet Auchincloss, and sister Lee Radziwill. This sweeping account traces their relationships over the decades, including familiar events such as the assassination of President John F. Kennedy and obscure ones such as how Jackie's mother shared her "formula for good living" with her daughter. Relying on interviews, oral histories, original documents, and published sources, the author reveals personal details of the lives of these three women: the competitive tension between the sisters; poignant accounts of troubled marriages; and the tangled web that linked Lee, Jackie, and Aristotle -Onassis. Readers are also introduced to the "other side of Camelot;" the lives of Jackie's half brother and half sister, for example. VERDICT Engrossing for general readers. Historians may challenge some of the anecdotes and interpretations presented.-Marie M. Mullaney, Caldwell Coll., NJ © Copyright 2017. Library Journals LLC, a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.Publishers Weekly Review
A formidable mother teaches her daughters to rise in the world by putting cold calculation before romance in this canny family portrait. Taraborrelli (Jackie, Ethel, Joan: Women of Camelot) traces the fraught relationship between First Lady Jackie Kennedy Onassis and her rivalrous celebrity sister Lee Radziwill as they dueled for popularity, men, and the approval of their mother Janet Auchincloss, an imperious matriarch who manipulated them as sternly as Joseph P. Kennedy did his offspring. Auchincloss's battle between heart and head-she married first a charming, virile womanizer, then a stolid, impotent plutocrat to secure her finances-laid the template for her daughters: Kennedy Onassis rehashed it by rejecting merely affluent suitors (usually at her mother's insistence) to marry into the "real money" of charming, womanizing J.F.K. and Aristotle Onassis (after wrestling him away from an affair with Radziwill-always the lesser marital strategist-and negotiating a $5 million prenuptial payment for her hand). Taraborrelli's gossipy narrative revels in luxurious decor, stunning outfits, and soap-operatic fights ("Janet just hauled off and slapped her daughter across the face, twice") in this entertaining saga of how wealthy, fashionable women got that way. Photos. (Jan.) © Copyright PWxyz, LLC. All rights reserved.Kirkus Book Review
The prolific celebrity biographer returns to Camelot, this time to examine some of the women involved in the glamorous proceedings.Taraborrelli (Becoming Beyonc: The Untold Story, 2015, etc.) tells the story of Janet Lee Bouvier, mother to Jackie and Lee, a woman whose life's work was the acquisition of money and power. Indeed, Janet never let either of her daughters marry without understanding the suitor's finances and connections. After divorcing John Bouvier, Janet married Hugh Auchincloss, a Standard Oil heir with two magnificent estates, one in McLean, Virginia, and the other in Newport, Rhode Island. Once married to Auchincloss, Janet wanted more children, and she was able to bear two more. This is much more the story of Lee and Jackie and their lifelong competition with and devotion to each other. Janet fostered and fed their competition, praising Jackie and criticizing Lee. Even in their games, Jackie was the princess and Lee the handmaiden; everything seemed to come to Jackie easily, while Lee struggled. Throughout their lives, Janet told the girls what to do and how. She even caused the end of Lee's first marriage. Her greatest failure was Aristotle Onassis. Lee was ready to leave her husband, Prince Radziwill, for Onassis but was convinced it would be fatal for John F. Kennedy's re-election, and she backed off. Even after Kennedy was killed, Lee hoped, but then Jackie moved in. Lee stepped aside gracefully, but Janet was furious. Throughout their lives, especially Lee's, Janet vetted every attachment, with demands for settlements and monthly allowances (in the tens of thousands) before marriage. Jackie learned from the master, securing $3 million from Onassis along with at least $30,000 a month. Ultimately, this is a narrative about money and the seemingly unlimited power that goes with it. It's a sad story, but anyone desperately questing for wealth could learn from it.The aura of Camelot lives on in a book for Kennedy completists and those who enjoy tales of the rich and powerful. Copyright Kirkus Reviews, used with permission.Author notes provided by Syndetics
Bestselling author and news reporter J. Randy Taraborrelli was born on February 29, 1956. His biographies have focused on celebrities such as Cher, Carol Burnett, Diana Ross, Michael Jackson, Frank Sinatra, Madonna, Elizabeth Taylor, and Marilyn Monroe. His biography called The Hiltons: The True Story of an American Dynasty, made it to the New York Times bestseller list in 2014. His latest book is Jackie, Janet & Lee: The Secret Lives of Janet Auchincloss and Her Daughters, Jacqueline Kennedy Onassis and Lee Radziwill, published in January 2018.Taraborrelli has been a guest on television programs including Today, Good Morning America, CBS This Morning, Larry King Live, Entertainment Tonight, The Insider, and CNN. He also contributes entertainment articles internationally to Hello!, The Daily Mail and Sunday Mail, and Australia's Women's Weekly.
(Bowker Author Biography)