Jackie as Editor

The Literary Life of Jacqueline Kennedy Onassis

By: Greg Lawrence

Narrated by: Bernadette Dunne

Length: 13 hrs and 29 mins

Publisher's summary

An absorbing chronicle of a much overlooked chapter in Jacqueline Kennedy Onassis’ life - her 19-year editorial career.

History remembers Jacqueline Kennedy Onassis as the consummate first lady, the nation’s tragic widow, the tycoon’s wife, and, of course, the quintessential embodiment of elegance. Her biographers, however, skip over an equally important stage in her life: her nearly 20-year-long career as a book editor. Jackie as Editor, written by one of the authors Jackie edited, 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 22 years. Greg Lawrence, who had three of his books edited by Jackie, draws from interviews with more than 120 of her former collaborators and acquaintances in the publishing world to examine one of the 20h century’s most enduring subjects of fascination through a new angle: 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 over a hundred books through the increasingly corporate halls of Viking and Doubleday. Away from the public eye, Jackie quietly defined life on her own terms.

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.

Greg Lawrence is the author or coauthor of seven previous books, including Colored Lights, Dance with Demons, Time Steps, The Shape of Love, The Little Ballerina and Her Dancing Horse, and the New York Times best-selling Dancing on My Grave - the last three edited by Jackie Onassis.

©2011 Greg Lawrence (P)2011 Blackstone Audio, Inc.

Critic reviews

“One of Jacqueline Onassis’ authors dishes kindly on her impressive editorial record…. Chatty without being vulgar, a deeply admiring portrait of a lady the world is just now getting to know.” ( Kirkus Reviews)

Lovely book

It’s true that we know so little of Jackie Kennedy’s life, especially after 1963. And the images of her that are the most populous tend to focus just on her time as First Lady and the decade or so after. This book makes it clear that her life was incredibly interesting and even more beautiful towards the end. The book gives an incredible insight into Jackie as a working woman, and it reveals something that is missing from many general recollections of her, and that is that she was an incredibly intelligent and dedicated woman. It really honors her in a truthful manner. The narration is also incredible and they tell the story with so much ease.

Jackie the Woman

Would you consider the audio edition of Jackie as Editor to be better than the print version?

I truly enjoyed the audio version of this book. First the narrater had the perfect voice to speak about Jackie the private person. This gave the listener an insight into the few years before her death. She was a private person. She ate in restaurants, hailed cabs and became a very good editor of books. Several of which I have

What does Bernadette Dunne bring to the story that you wouldn’t experience if you just read the book?

The voice. Bernadette Dunne has the perfect voice for this book. It is soft and similar to how I remember Jackie Kennedy's voice sounded

Was this a book you wanted to listen to all in one sitting?

I started this book on a night I felt stressed and after a certain time I was relaxed and thoroughly in to the book. The clock said 4:00am and I was still listening. I continued listening after my husband got up and continued until the end. I was sorry to come to the end of this audio book

Any additional comments?

I highly recommend this book because it gives one a look at Jackie the woman. Not the first lady, not wife of one of the world's richest men but just Jackie. A woman who got up and went to work and lived at last a quiet life