Jackie as Editor: The Literary Life of Jacqueline Kennedy Onassis

by Greg Lawrence

An absorbing chronicle of a much overlooked chapter in Jacqueline Kennedy Onassis's life—her nineteen-year editorial career History remembers Jacqueline Kennedy Onassis as the consummate first lady, the nation's tragic widow, the millionaire's wife, and, of course, the quintessential embodiment of elegance. Her biographers, however, skip over an equally important stage in her her nearly twenty year long career as a book editor. Jackie as Editor is the first book to focus exclusively on this remarkable woman's editorial career. At the age of forty-six, one of the most famous women in the world went to work for the first time in twenty-two years. Greg Lawrence, who had three of his books edited by Jackie, draws from interviews with more than 125 of her former collaborators and acquaintances in the publishing world to examine one of the twentieth century's most enduring subjects of fascination through a new her previously untouted skill in the career she chose. Over the last third of her life, Jackie would master a new industry, weather a very public professional scandal, and shepherd more than a hundred books through the increasingly corporate halls of Viking and Doubleday, publishing authors as diverse as Diana Vreeland, Louis Auchincloss, George Plimpton, Bill Moyers, Dorothy West, Naguib Mahfouz, and even Michael Jackson. Jackie as Editor gives intimate new insights into the life of a complex and enigmatic woman who found fulfillment through her creative career during book publishing's legendary Golden Age, and, away from the public eye, quietly defined life on her own terms.

Genres: Biography, Nonfiction, Biography Memoir, History, Writing, Books About Books, Womens

337 pages, Kindle Edition

First published December 17, 2010

Reviews

[Petra X · Rating 1 out of 5]

I have always been interested in Jackie Kennedy as an editor at Doubleday - I worked for Doubleday too. I liked the idea of a mega-wealthy woman, at one time considered the most beautiful and high status woman in the world actually having a job.

This is how she gets her job as a commissioning editor. She wants to get into publishing but is let down gently by a publisher saying it wouldn't be fair on junior staff to create a major opening for her, but what about being a commissioning editor? This means, he said, she could just work when she wanted and define her own projects. I read this as "all that publicity when we say Jackie O is working for us". She actually does get a job as a commissioning editor and is given an office and part-time hours 4 days a week. The CEO suggests to a senior editor that she take Jackie O out to lunch at a top NY restaurant in order to tell her what the job consists of. We should all be so lucky to go in at the top level and have our 'training' begin at at lunch somewhere fancy.

Up until this point, the writer had brought up various 'failings' of JKO. Such as having affairs, deserting Onassis when he was seriously ill, being disloyals to family in print, spending unimaginably large sums of money on jewellery, clothes and furniture when she was in the White House, screwing up other people's books by withdrawing her contribution after it had gone to press, ignoring friends unless she felt convivial (known in the West Indies as being 'sometimeish'), fighting with Christina Onassis over a settlement after Onassis's death and many other minor little flaws that detract from the magnificence that was Jackie O. Each and every little mistake was explained away as just the media, or others did it too, or it didn't really happen like that, or or or or or...

Greg Lawrence, the author, had two of his books edited by JKO and although he didn't move in her social circles, maybe he was overwhelmed by the fallout of the glitter dust that celebrities confer on those of us who will never be given a table for 8 when they hadn't booked at a 3 star Michelin restaurant. The book is well-written, but good writing does't overcome subject matter that is just an extended paean of praise and almost elevation to sainthood of a woman who lived her very flawed life quite publicly.

It read like a fan writing the world's most sychophantic memoir and was just as candyfloss sickening as it sounds. She wasn't a saint. She was fascinating. Why concentrate on the first when it was the second, her magnetism, that drew people in? I thought if I'm going to be throw up it ought to be over something substantial so I'm going out in a minute to buy a family size bar of Cadbury's Fruit and Nut. That should do it.

[Joanna · Rating 2 out of 5]

When Jacqueline Kennedy Onassis died, her son announced that she passed away "surrounded by her friends and her family and her books." If that were not testament enough to how much this woman loved reading, there is also the fact that she had no monetary need to work, but chose to seek employment in book publishing as a kind of vocation. Thus, it is a terrible shame that a book which admirably attempts to chronicle her contribution to literature is nearly unreadable.

Author Greg Lawrence was one of the authors that Onassis worked with during the 1980s. When discussing his personal experiences working with her, he relates (with no apparent sense of irony) that "...her most frequent editorial note, written over and over in the margins of our manuscript, was 'Concision!" and mentions that she would often underline on sentence and comment that "this encapsulates the point very well. The 20 preceding pages could be summed up with this one concise sentence." Most unfortunately, these are lessons that he has not yet taken to heart.

In one sense, he may have simply been overwhelmed with too much material. Due to the narrow focus on her work in the publishing world, Lawrence seems to have found previously tight-lipped sources quite willing to open up and share their experiences of working with her in her editorial capacity. The meticulously sourced citations, annotations, and indexes run to over 56 pages. But Lawrence's inability to separate the wheat from the chaff made me feel that I was not reading this book so much as I was slogging/trudging through it.

To be sure, there are times when an anecdote shines out - Jackie doubling over with laughter when one of her assistants responds to 'the check is in the mail' with an unthinking 'yeah, and I won't come in your mouth'; or Jackie flat out lying to Gloria Steinem to protect the recently divorced Joan Kennedy from being hounded for an exclusive Ms. Magazine interview; or thinking that Barbara Streisand might have been calling about a book deal when really she wanted the name of a good libel lawyer - that show her as a funny, gracious, charming, and quite regular person. But these are buried in mountains of tedious recollections about art direction and paper quality and restaurant meetings and plot summaries and the sound of her breathless voice on the phone.

Considering her reluctance to use her attach her name to the books that she edited (for fear that her celebrity would overshadow the work of the author) it is an important achievement that Lawrence has managed to flush out a definitive list of titles that she worked on. Throughout the book, I would find myself becoming interested in one of the books that Jackie had worked on (Sally Hemmings, for example, or the collection of Emily Dickinson's Nature Poetry) and on the verge of putting this book down to go and seek out the more interesting sounding original books. Which, if all other books mentioned sound more interesting than the book you are currently reading, is really a serious indictment as to the quality of the book in hand. I think it is partly Lawrence's relentlessly chronological approach (instead of, for example, a more thematic discussion of her work on art books, French and Russian histories, the dance world, best sellers, etc) and his penchant for name checking the endless who's who of the moneyed New York arts community that causes this sense that you are falling into a stagnant stupor of repetitive prose, but it could also be his gift for relating even the interesting stories in a narrative monotone.

The difficulty of trying to get a book out of Michael Jackson, for instance, or the details of the fictional novel about an attempted assassination of Ted Kennedy that resulted in her resignation from Viking...these stories could and should have the reader eagerly turning the pages to find out more. Perhaps it is Lawrence's determination to stay away from any salacious rumors or scandalous gossip (although he does a fine and unusually subtle job of skewering Richard de Combray for attempting to boost his own fame by soft selling rumors of a non-existent romantic relationship with her) that makes him so determined to restrict this account to the driest presentation of the most demonstrable facts, but he winds up with a sawdust product that is largely devoid of life.

You certainly get a sense of the wide ranging nature of Jackie's interests, and her great intellectual curiosity. The picture that this book paints remains fairly flat, but it does make her out as a modern renaissance woman. Her cultural background and European connections are especially fascinating in the context of her ability to bring foreign books to an American audience. Despite being awarded the Nobel Prize in Literature in 1988, one wonders how long it would have taken Naguib Mahfouz's Cairo Trilogy to be published in English, had Jackie not taken an interest after reading it in French. As it had been available in Arabic since the 1950s, it seems quite possible that it simply would not have reached an American audience for another fifty years, if at all. And it was her unswerving faith in the market of ideas that led to the publication of "The Power of Myth." The fact that she stretched herself and was willing to take a chance on San Francisco underground comic scene by publishing the first two volumes of The Cartoon History of the Universe speaks to her willingness to take a risk on unusual work, and the fact that she was willing to be a good corporate citizen at Doubleday by working with the burgeoning snake handling diva personality of Michael Jackson to publish "Moonwalk," shows her as a true team player. (I mean, if you are Jacqueline Kennedy Onassis you certainly do not have to make multiple trips out to his gaudy mannequin filled home, full of exotic animals in alarming condition, to try and get a worthwhile book out of him. But she did. That is an impressive level of dedication.)

These are important things to remember, and should rightfully be counted as a part of her legacy to America.

It is simply a tragedy that the book which seeks to reclaim the very significant importance of this period of her life takes what should be a unique and fresh perspective on one of the most intriguing women in the world and transforms it into a sensationally boring read.

[Valerie Petersen · Rating 4 out of 5]

Not only an excellent insight into Jackie's talents as an editor, but also indicates her depth of character in so many ways. However, the book probably would have benefitted from her decisive editing skills.

[Phrodrick slowed his growing backlog · Rating 3 out of 5]

In giving Greg Lawrence’s Jackie as Editor 3 stars I wish to emphasize that I did not dislike the book. I may be a victim of myown anticipation but I feel that author Lawrence left me with several problems. He is not a bad writer, just not a great one. He was or considered himself a friend of Mrs. Onassis but I do not think he wanted to burn too many of his bridges in the world of publishing. The result is a book where the story carries more of the load than the story teller.

The initial problem lays in the fact that a very rich larger than life person was given a starting job under terms and conditions not available to someone who would have to earn that same spot and pay after years of lessor assignments. It is very credible that Mrs. Onassis was above average personable and had enormous tact and a way with people. It is not credible that no one resented her special treatment.
From the point of view of her employers she was uniquely valuable because of the people she knew and the doors that were open to her. That she would prover herself a capable, money making editor could, eventually end some of the rumors, but it is unrealistic to tell us that she won over everyone and did so quickly.
The Standard Jackie Kennedy Onassis narrative is that she was the daughter of a rich philandering father, then the gracious, if light weight ornamental first lady in modern America’s most ornamental presidency. A position she fulfilled by being the symbol of the strong new widow leading by example America’s mourning for the loss of her husband and our president. Her public mythical life ended when she sullied herself by marring a much older philandering rich Greek who died just before their being divorced such that she is last heard of in an ugly law suit with the rich man’s natural daughter.

Jackie as Editor documents that the real last act of her life was as an intelligent, perspicacious hard working book editor. Her achievements in this role all the more to her credit because she learned to parlay her position as a fabled member of America’s elite into book deals and publishing budgets that a lessor editor could not have accomplished.
She was a specialist in quality heavily illustrated books at a time when the industry was avoiding the costs associated with museum quality art books. Instead the industry increasing interested in the obvious sales a given project was likely to produce.

Far from being adverse to money making books she did promote authors and projects that made money. Among those I personally enjoyed was her previously unknown, to me, role in bringing the philosopher Joseph Campbell to a wider readership as well as one of the first post wall biographies of Joseph Stalin by Russian author Edvard Radzinshy. . More overtly commercial titles include a photo biography of Fred Astaire, The Cartoon History of the Universe, Moonwalk by Michael Jackson and the Ballad of John and Yoko.

Because of the depth and breath of Jackie’s reading and interests she was able to promote authors from Egypt, Turkey, France and India. Her total list runs to 95 titles including many on the arts, children’s books, history and philosophy.

Jacqueline Lee Kennedy Onassis may have been ornamental. But she was also intelligent, hardworking and capable of promoting books from authors and better treatment of those authors under an increasing hot preference for short cuts and high profit.

To Lawrence’s credit he makes clear the many ways a good editor can not only provide line for line editing, something Jackie avoided or took on in ways most editors could not have but also argued for high quality paper, better introductory material even named photographers for illustrations and book jackets. Because Jackie could take educated as well as passionate interest in many of her projects we get a lot of information about how an editor can handle authors and direct the amount of pages and the speed of their production. All typical of many another editor and increasing missing the 21st century world of less influential and commercially subjugated publishing houses.
One has to wonder what Lawrence would make of the near complete take-over of editing by disinterested and decidedly not passionate corporations. Not to mention the vast increase in the number of self-published e books that may never get near a trained line editor never mind a budget for a better publicity campaign.

There are, therefore good things to Jackie as Editor. Behinds the scenes lesson in what good editors can do. For me the best of the book is the story behind titles I have already read and a new list of titles to read next.

Since reading this book have read one of Russian Fairy tales, best for its illustrations and I have another from the Tiffany Jewelry illustrated books to gift to my wife. I will be adding to my shelf of books with Jackie as Editor.

[Sara · Rating 2 out of 5]

Parts of Lawrence's book are interesting. Unfortunately, Lawrence is constrained in his storytelling by a dogged adherence to a linear timeline: "First, Jackie worked with this author on this book and here is an anecdote about her from that author. Here is a second author," and so on. Through EVERY book she edited during her 22 years in publishing. Jackie edited a book on George Balanchine, written by Francis Mason. She insists he cut the manuscript (originally 650,000 words) by 200,000 words. She wrote to him at the time: "...focus only on the recollections that fill out Balanchine's portrait. Cut the autobiographical reminiscences and repetitious adorations and concentrate on what each has to say on what Balanchine was really like as a man and an artist."

Though I found this book a nice counterweight to the gratuitous and incredibly mean-spirited "Bobby and Jackie: A Love Story," by C. David Heymann, I found myself wishing Greg Lawrence had taken Jackie's own advice.

[Catherine Hines · Rating 3 out of 5]

I'm one of those annoying and cliched old women who loved Jacqueline Kennedy, although I'm embarrassed to admit it. And so I loved this book, which is interesting without being (very) vulgar. I'm glad I read it. Every 50 pages or so, I'd have to add something to the old Amazon wish list, but sadly, most of the books she edited are out of print and therefore out of my price range.

[Joan · Rating 4 out of 5]

This was a surprisingly well done, fascinating book. I do have mixed feelings about the book, however. I think Jackie likely would have hated this book being published. On the other hand, this was a fascinating look at how editors worked, at least in older days. Jackie's writers certainly felt the role of editors have changed and not for the better. Jackie started at Viking Press but left when they had the poor taste to publish a political thriller involving Ted Kennedy's assassination. Jackie felt she had to leave. She ended up at Doubleday for a much longer time she had been at Viking, until her death. It sounds as though she had a freer hand at Viking than at Doubleday. Both have let some of her edited books fall out of print. Jackie was more of a conceptual and acquisition editor than a line editor, but did do a lot of line editing as well. She believed in supporting her authors and would fight for their projects against the bureaucrats that likely weren't so happy with how expensive many of her books were to publish. She tended to concentrate on well illustrated books which are pricey to print. She did have a number of titles on the bestseller list. One that jumped out at me was Power of Myth by Joseph Campbell with Bill Moyers. The book is still well known. Even below the 35 age group have at least vaguely heard of the book (I asked one). And one for Youth Services Librarians: who knew that Jackie published Sis's first book, and encouraged him to start on his Caldecott title that made him a huge name in children's lit? She likely would have been involved in that book but died before that project went anywhere. Jackie generally refused to allow her name to be put on the books as editor. A theme that kept arising was how very broad her interests were and how closely and personally she worked with her authors. She apparently always wrote handwritten letters to them, usually on blue stationery. She would cajole them along but could also be quite blunt and stern when the situation called for it with her authors but always with the grace that she has been noted for her whole life. She was truly dedicated to her job and was sending authors handwritten letters a month before her death from cancer. It sounds as though she made a wonderful life for herself in the last couple of decades of life, which is lovely to know after all the turbulence she famously endured. Recommended more for an inside look at the publishing world at one time than for gossip on her life.

[Irina · Rating 5 out of 5]

This was an excellent read! If you are interested in Jackie's final years when she really came into her own, lived independently and pursued her intellectual passions - this is the best source!

I've always been a fan of Jackie Kennedy but I became an even bigger fan of Jackie Onassis after finish this book. She herself once admitted she she had always lived through men. But after she widowed, moved to New York city and got a job at a publishing house, Jackie blossomed. She became an independent woman who devoted her time to her children and her work. She nourished young talents and got big names for her publishing house. She traveled the world and met amazing people with a purpose of putting great books together.

There are plenty of interesting insights into her life. She lived in one of the most expensive addresses in NY but her tastes were simple. Unlike her sister Lee, Jackie didn't throw money to the wind. She mostly wore comfortable CH slacks and blouses, her furniture and decor haven't changed in years. She ate very little and spend her free time outside - walking, riding, swimming. She went to work, met up with friends, attended a very few public events and overall appeared to be a very modern woman.

I think this was one of the best periods of her life and maybe one of the happiest, who knows? I'd love to know the Jackie described in this book!

[Christine Frank · Rating 3 out of 5]

Halfway through. I admire the research and the waaaaaay meticulous interviewing and recounting. Nice too, to have a book with no or little well-worn Kennedy gossip. As an editor, I am enjoying Jackie's crafty editorial comments and handling of her authors. The only "but" is . . . the books she worked on are all just so trivial and elitist, so, so COFFEE TABLE. . . Tiffany's . . . Versailles . . .Madame de This 'n That . . ballet . . .yawn . . . . I DO love Jackie's opinion of her "author" Michael Jackson, though (as it mirrors mine.)(less)

By the end, I was sorry to see Jackie go, though, and wished there were more to tell. I listened to this as an audiobook, and would consider buying it just to highlight some of Jackie's elegantly crafted sentences so I could use them on the authors *I* work with.

[Barbara · Rating 4 out of 5]

I was so happy to get this book from Amazon for $1.75. Allow me to share my sighting of Jackie O. It was in the 70's and I was in NYC with a few friends. We were just walking around the city on a weekday, when a limo stopped in front of a large office building (probably one of the Publishing houses). We stopped! The door opened and we saw her. No one said a word. She was only a few steps away. We were mesmerized as she walked toward the glass doors, and we were grateful that the sidewalk was quite wide. Then we were stunned when she turned and looked at us. A moment to remember.

I'll write more when I finish book. Barb, 6/28/12.

[John Bicknell · Rating 4 out of 5]

This was a fascinating inside look at the publishing business -- from a unique angle -- and provided some glimpses into a well-chronicled life that have only been skimmed by many of the other authors who have examined her life. Having just gone through the process of getting a book published, I found the tales of internal politics quite interesting, although my mid-size press experience bore no resemblance to the high-powered goings on at Viking or Doubleday, where JKO worked. And work she did, on many fine books, including one of my favorite memoirs, Dancing on My Grave, by Gelsey Kirkland (whose ex-husband wrote this book and was another of JKO's authors).

[Son · Rating 5 out of 5]

I listened to the audio to this and it was wonderful - especially on long car rides. Although I wasn't able to make a list of the books she edited I would like to read but found that via Google. What a wonderful woman and what a wonderful editor to all her authors and how lucky we are be able to find the books she helped come to fruition during her 19 yrs. I would listen to this again or read the paper copy. So many interviews and quotes and info that it only makes you love her forever more.

[Amy · Rating 3 out of 5]

Apparently, re-reading (or rather, listening to it while driving to work) this biography every-so-often is to be my new thing. It seems to be a comfort read for me. A book about books, editing, authors, and JBKO-- there isn't much better than that. Only there is: the other almost identical book about the same subject, published around the same time, "Reading Jackie: Her Autobiography in Books" by William Kuhn.

[Anne · Rating 2 out of 5]

The content was interesting since it's all about books and Jackie as working woman which is a new perspective, but was rambley + in need of an editor.

[Audra Spiven · Rating 3 out of 5]

I enjoyed this book! I don't know if I would've been interested enough to finish if I hadn't listened on audio, though. It was a slow pace, and not always riveting. But overall, the topic is fascinating. I have never really known anything about Jackie B/K/O, and have never really cared, but I know she was beloved when she was alive, and I DIDN'T know she had a career as a book editor. It was fun listening to descriptions of her doing my same job, although not exactly the same because the industry has changed a ton since she was part of it, and my niche publisher also does things very differently from traditional publishers. But there's still overlap, and it was interesting to compare and contrast her approach to editing with my own. It sounds like she mastered a skill I haven't, which is to make your authors feel like they are the most intelligent people in the world even as you're tearing apart their work. At this point, I'm starting to think this is something that is an innate trait rather than a learned skill. Alas, I still try not to be too careless with my authors' feelings. There's not many I would recommend this to because this book represents a VERY narrow confluence of interests, but I did come out of this with a couple of book titles I am interested in looking up because they sounded quite interesting.

[Shannon Yarbrough · Rating 3 out of 5]

I wanted to read this book after having read The Editor by Steven Rowley. Steven used this book for reference and inspiration. I loved his book so I decided to read "Jackie as Editor" to learn more about Jackie O.

It's a decent book and very informative. It offers a personal glimpse into her life when she worked for Viking and Doubleday after the death of her second husband. Yep, Jackie became a book editor and was quite good at it. There's a list of all of her books in the back of this book. Lots of good name dropping along the way, but the book isn't overly gossipy. Everyone loved Jackie and loved working with her!

I'm only giving it 3 stars because it drags a bit in the middle and becomes quite repetitive: "Jackie met this person. Jackie asked them to write a book. Jackie helped them. They loved working with her. The book was a huge success. Repeat." I found myself skipping through these pages just to keep things going.

Still a good book though and I'm glad I read it. I've already suggested it to someone else and will be passing along my copy to them.

[David Marshall · Rating 5 out of 5]

Growing up, Jacqueline Kennedy was ever present, an icon long before those four days when I was eight. By the time I was leaving home she'd turned into Jackie O, a different icon, this time with oversized sunglasses and the ever-present paparazzi. The Mrs. Onasis she became was one not many knew and was hardly a part of her legacy when she suddenly passed out of our lives. Yet that woman, the last reincarnation of this awe inspiring woman brought forward some of the books I most love-- and never realized she'd had a hand in their being published as she insisted on her name never being listed as the editor. Instead, she reached for quality in literature, an appreciation of beauty and the culture that is crumbling all too quickly around us, anonymously providing the nurturing and guiding hand of a precious few authors in whose work she saw greatness. Everyone recognizes the icon but few appreciate what she brought to fruition, even when the result are books that we love and treasure. This slim book details what she provided us in one of the most fulfilling portions of an already incredible existence. For this book and for the work that Mrs. Onasis brought into being, I will be forever grateful.

[Kathy · Rating 5 out of 5]

Those of us who were impressionable teens when Jacqueline Bouvier Kennedy was first lady, may finish this book and murmur, "Jackie, we hardly knew ye." In "Jackie as Editor" Greg Lawrence takes us into the limited office space publishers Viking and Doubleday could spare for a woman who proved to be a nurturing guide for writers from novices to Nobel laureates. In 19 years, she amassed a catalog of works that should shame the bean counters who trimmed margins, cheapened paper, and denied other projects. In 97 books, Mrs. Onassis showed us what humans can contribute to culture. Too many of the 97 are out of print today. Let us be thankful for libraries and online books.
Lawrence helps us see Jackie crouched on the floor arranging layouts, posed to say good-bye to authors as their elevator doors closed, seated to write endless words of encouragement, and always ready to read. He acknowledges that she was a horsewoman, but misses the implications of that well-honed skill. If she could get a 1,200-pound beast to do what was best, authors could be shown the right path across fields, over obstacles and through the woods with strength, flexibility and minimal prodding.

[Zeynep Şen · Rating 4 out of 5]

I did not expect to learn so many different things when I first picked up this book. In fact, I expected it to be an entertaining, lighter read as opposed to an instructive one. I ended up delving into such subjects as ballet and dance history, photography, French history, Russian history (particularly the last days of the monarchy), illustration, book design, publishing history and trends, architecture, 18th and 19th century interior design and insectology, to name but a few things. And I learned all this not because the book turns into a boring lesson out of high school corridors but because this marvelous woman was genuinely interested in all these subjects and more. I've never seen anybody as thirsty for knowledge as she was!Discovering Jackie O's career as an editor and a talented, hard working one that incorporated her desire for knowledge in all avenues of life into her work was a pleasure to put it mildy.

[Aja · Rating 4 out of 5]

It is very clear and apparent to me that Jackie Kennedy Onassis was a great book editor. She was dedicated and diligent. Yup, she definitely skipped the line in paying ones dues in the book editing world, but once she was there, she proved that she had valuable assets which any publishing house would be lucky to have on staff. This book did gloss over the overwhelming privilege that allows Jackie O to do Jackie O ish things and plays it off as charm instead of fame and wealth. But I will not pretend I don't believe she wasn't a wealth and grace, for those are the reasons I chose to read the book. This book is a must read for Jackie O fans because it humanizes her in a way I've not seen before. But I didn't like the way it painted her as so terribly fragile in certain chapters. I don't think she was fragile at all. I think she was a pillar of strength, so to slap her with the fragile white woman trope is to do both the book and JKO a disservice.

[Cynthia Vanaria · Rating 4 out of 5]

I wanted to know what Jackie kennedy was like out of public view. WOW! She was so amazing. Very intelligent, very knowledgeable on many subjects, very dedicated to projects she felt were worthwhile. She was a devoted editor and friend to the writers she edited. Excellent read about an extraordinary woman.

[E. · Rating 5 out of 5]

I have enjoyed this book so much! What a woman, a champion, and dedicated lady. This book opens the reader to the real Jackie, not the one associated with powerful men, but someone who had her own idenity, loved her job, and put her heart and being into it. Thank you, Greg Lawrence, for this fantastic book!

[Arik Hardin · Rating 4 out of 5]

After reading The Editor, I became slightly obsessed with learning about Jackie's career as an editor, so of course I had to get this book and learn everything I could. While at times this book could be a bit too in-depth and could have use a bit more of a narrative structure, I really enjoyed learning more about such an iconic woman and the career she built for herself in books.

[Janet Ollman · Rating 5 out of 5]

When asked why Jackie Kennedy Onassis was viewed as somewhat intimating, friend Bill Moyers said, “it’s because of the place in history. Because she had that dignity for those four days……as a unity force in the country and she didn’t ask to be.” It was fascinating to read about the 25-year career as an editor for the former First Lady.

[Corey · Rating 2 out of 5]

It might've been a lot better were Mrs. O not portrayed as a silly Barbie who produced nothing but coffee table books...

[Julie Oles · Rating 4 out of 5]

I enjoyed learning more of the private side of Jackie. She loved books and worked diligently at her craft of editing. Now she can Rest In Peace.

[Libby · Rating 4 out of 5]

Soo long but also wonderfully thorough and eye opening. I love reading about book publishing and history and this combined the two!

[Autumn Kearney · Rating 1 out of 5]

Disappointing trash written to make her look bad. Did not finish.

[Mary · Rating 4 out of 5]

A must-read for anyone who is a bibliophile

[Ellison · Rating 4 out of 5]

shares some of her experiences as she aspires to be involved in publishing. shares how the industry changed. b/w images.