Publishers Weekly
12/19/2022
Scholar Eaton re-examines the life of Jacqueline Kennedy Onassis in her striking debut. In reintroducing Onassis, Eaton writes of how “she was always one step ahead” and able to reinvent herself when necessary. Born into old money in Southampton, N.Y., in 1929, Onassis “consciously stepped outside the rarefied world she’d been born into” to become a photographer at the Washington Times-Herald after boarding school. Her 1953 marriage to John F. Kennedy (a “radical choice”) put her on the world stage, and she later won widespread admiration for her glamorous turn as first lady and her remodel of the White House that brought American art into the spotlight. After JFK’s assassination, Onassis redefined his presidency as “Camelot” before marrying Greek tycoon Aristotle Onassis in 1968. Eaton hints at Onassis’s sense of being tethered to the Kennedy family, describing how she attempted to construct a new identity as Mrs. Onassis and “having something of a feminist awakening” before Aristotle’s death in 1975. Eaton closes with Jackie’s decision to live “on her own terms,” expertly drawing out Onassis’s veiled longing to establish her own identity and be measured apart from her husbands. Feminists and pop culture fans will delight in this spirited reconsideration of an American icon. Agent: William LoTurco, LoTurco Literary. (Jan.)
From the Publisher
"Feminists and pop culture fans will delight in this spirited reconsideration of an American icon."
—Publishers Weekly
“John F. Kennedy said: ‘What makes journalism so fascinating and biography so interesting is the struggle to answer that single question: What’s he like? No more struggling on the subject of Jacqueline Kennedy Onassis. Oline Eaton’s Finding Jackie penetrates the mystique and unravels the myth with the best Jackie biography ever. Brava, Brava, Brava!”
—Kitty Kelley, New York Times bestselling author of Jackie Oh!
"The good news, as Oline Eaton demonstrates, is that we are still trying to find Jackie. This biography resists the temptation to say too much, and thus we get a serious and entertaining exploration of a person and the persona constructed by the subject herself and the media."
—NY Sun
"Heavily sourced, masterfully told—and even fastidiously illustrated—Eaton’s “Finding Jackie” is rooted in modern culture, but told for an audience that craves more than surface-level celebrity. It’s a must-read for those interested in many topics—from First Ladies to media history, consumer economic trends, and, of course, Jackie O herself."
—K Street Magazine
"Looks with compassion and insight into the glorious and tragic life of 'Jackie O.'"
—The Beacon
“Oline Eaton tells the Jackie Onassis story with riveting precision and a warm, intuitive sense of how the enigmas of a celebrity’s life can entrance us. Eaton manages to move beyond myth and gossip—however delectable—into a fact-based assessment of the traumas, conflicts, and heroism of the woman whom we all knew as simply ‘Jackie.’ This book’s insights bring Jackie into the 21st century; in Eaton’s responsive, empathic depiction of this historical figure, we can begin to grasp a splendor—a charisma, an accomplishment, a finesse—we hadn’t yet adequately reckoned.”
—Wayne Koestenbaum, poet, critic, artist, and author of Jackie Under My Skin: Interpreting an Icon
“Finding Jackie is an extraordinary achievement—a fresh, riveting exploration of one of the world’s most written-about women. With great ingenuity and compassion, and in beautiful prose, Oline Eaton brings this fascinating figure to a new generation, and explodes dusty ideas about what biography is and can be. Anyone interested in celebrity, fame, media, and myth-making, or merely women in general, will find much to delight in here.”
—Kate Bolick, New York Times bestselling author of Spinster: Making a Life of One’s Own
“The best book about JKO I’ve ever read. Not Jackie the icon but Jackie the woman—in all her restless, spiky glory.”
—Elizabeth Winder, author of Pain, Parties, Work: Sylvia Plath In New York, Summer 1953
“In Finding Jackie, Oline Eaton has illuminated the timeline of the iconic Jacqueline Bouvier Kennedy Onassis with forgotten and overlooked episodes that are telling and vibrant, encapsulating her complicated existence as a private person and aspiration mythology as a public persona. The author places Jackie within a substantive popular culture context, giving a broad grasp of just why this individual was so important in her times and yet timelessly endures in the collective imagination.”
—Carl Sferrazza Anthony, author of Camera Girl: The Coming of Age of Jackie Bouvier Kennedy
“A necessary biography contextualizing Jackie, an enigmatic embodiment of American womanhood and all its multitudes.”
—Joshunda Sanders, author of I Can Write the World
“Her name once seemed to float ‘electric on the air,’ as Andy Warhol said of Jackie. Oline Eaton captures the electricity and explains it in this exceptional biography of a woman who dazzled, inspired, and suffered. This is the rare biography that makes the familiar seem fresh with deep research, delightful prose, and unerring insight. Readers will find Jackie more interesting than ever, and that’s saying a great deal."
—Jonathan Eig, New York Times bestselling author of Ali: A Life
“Informed by the latest scholarship and with an irreverent eye for tabloid excess, Oline Eaton achieves the remarkable in this book. She turns Jackie into super-fuel for a new generation. She also makes finding Jackie fun.”
—William Kuhn, author of Reading Jackie: Her Autobiography in Books
“Finding Jackie is an utterly original and beautifully written perspective on the former First Lady. Oline Eaton has achieved something remarkable, casting Jacqueline Kennedy Onassis, a woman we thought we knew, in a completely new light, putting her in the context of her times—and ours.”
—Matthew Algeo, author of Harry Truman's Excellent Adventure: The True Story of a Great American Road Trip
“Jackie Kennedy has long reigned as America’s best known, but least understood First Lady. In this engaging narrative, Oline Eaton reveals the thoughtful and sensitive woman that was obscured by her celebrity.”
—Joshua Kendall, author of First Dads: Parenting and Politics from George Washington to Barack Obama
New York Times bestselling author Kitty Kelley
Penetrates the mystique and unravels the myth with the best Jackie biography ever.”
author of March Sisters Kate Bolick
A fresh, riveting exploration of one of the world’s most written-about women…[that] brings this fascinating figure to a new generation.”
author of Jackie under My Skin Wayne Koestenbaum
Oline Eaton tells the Jackie Onassis story with riveting precision and a warm, intuitive sense of how the enigmas of a celebrity’s life can entrance us…In Eaton’s responsive, empathic depiction of this historical figure, we can begin to grasp a splendor…we hadn’t yet adequately reckoned.”
New York Times bestselling author Jonathan Eig
Her name once seemed to float ‘electric on the air,’ as Andy Warhol said of Jackie. Oline Eaton captures the electricity…in this exceptional biography of a woman who dazzled, inspired, and suffered. This is the rare biography that makes the familiar seem fresh with deep research, delightful prose, and unerring insight.”
author of Reading Jackie William Kuhn
Eaton…turns Jackie into super-fuel for a new generation.”
Elizabeth Winder
The best book about JKO I’ve ever read. Not Jackie the icon but Jackie the woman—in all her restless, spiky glory.”
author of Jackie Under My Skin: Interpreting a Wayne Koestenbaum
Oline Eaton tells the Jackie Onassis story with riveting precision and a warm, intuitive sense of how the enigmas of a celebrity’s life can entrance us. Eaton moves beyond myth and gossip—however delectable—into a fact-based assessment of the traumas, conflicts, and heroism of the woman whom we all knew as simply ‘Jackie.’ …[I]n Eaton’s responsive, empathic depiction of this historical figure, we can begin to grasp a splendor…we hadn’t yet adequately reckoned.”
author of Reading Jackie: Her Autobiography in William Kuhn
Informed by the latest scholarship and with an irreverent eye for tabloid excess, Oline Eaton achieves the remarkable in this book. She turns Jackie into super-fuel for a new generation.”
New York Times bestselling author Kate Bolick
An extraordinary achievement—a fresh, riveting exploration of one of the world’s most written-about women. With great ingenuity and compassion, and in beautiful prose, Oline Eaton brings this fascinating figure to a new generation…Anyone interested in celebrity, fame, media, and myth-making…will find much to delight in here.”
Kirkus Reviews
2022-10-26
A pop-culture study of the woman who was once known around the world.
The first thing to know is that Jacqueline Bouvier Kennedy Onassis (1929-1994) pronounced her name Jack-leen. The next is that her long-stated ambition was “not to be a housewife.” While she had her foibles—including, Eaton chronicles, the ability to whirlwind her way across a tony boutique in a few minutes and rack up a $100,000 bill—she was also a person of considerable substance. She made some curious choices in life, including, by the author’s account, her marriage to Aristotle Onassis, which was not happy, as reflected by the comparatively small sum of money she received when he died. Still, upon Jacqueline’s own death in 1994, as if by some silent agreement in the world press, Wayne Koestenbaum noted that “her marriage to Onassis was erased with the absoluteness of Soviet regimes banishing dissidents from the historical record.” Kennedy—so she was known in her last years, the Onassis name deleted—was eminently gossipworthy, and Eaton, who writes in a breezy style, doesn’t refrain from throwing out red meat: Jackie complained about John F. Kennedy’s womanizing; Onassis and Jackie had a 170-clause marriage contract; Jackie enjoyed a “champagne-tastes” hedonism, “so maybe Camelot wasn’t such a magical era. Maybe America’s queen had always been a bitch.” The author also offers discerning observations, including Jackie’s pulling Bobby Kennedy aside to say, “America’s going to the dogs. I don’t know why you want to be president.” Eaton’s offhand delivery, seemingly tossed off at times (“And who is this man she’s marrying? He’s most often portrayed as a pirate”), is better suited to a magazine article than a serious book, but readers will still glean a thing or two they might not have known before.
A middling but sometimes insightful portrait of an American icon.
