Jackie After O: One Remarkable Year When Jacqueline Kennedy Onassis Defied Expectations and Rediscovered Her Dreams Large Print

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Jacqueline Kennedy Onassis has been one of Americas most beloved icons, capturing the publics interest with her grace and style from her first steps into the spotlight during John F. Kennedys political campaigns. But Jackie aspired to be so much more than a fashion plate.Jackie After Ochronicles Jackies life in 1975one remarkable year for the former first ladyas she shook the worlds expectations and rediscovered her dreams.

While growing up in New York, Virginia, and Newport, Rhode Island, young Jackie Bouvier fell in love with the written word. Constantly reading, writing, drawing, and taking photographs, she was determined to become a journalist after her college graduation. Though most young women seeking employment at the Washington Times-Herald in the early 1950s were assigned to the society pages, Jackies persistence led to her becoming the Inquiring Photographer, posing questions to people on the street and taking photos of her interviewees to accompany their responses. But her engagement and marriage to John Kennedy, the future 35th President of the United States, in 1953 set the then 24-year-old in a completely different direction.

So much has already been written about Jackies life as a Kennedy. Following the assassination of her brother-in-law Robert in 1968, Jackie withdrew as best she could from the public eye. She married Greek shipping magnate Aristotle Onassis at the end of that year and sought safety and privacy for herself and her children, despite being a constant target of the paparazzi. But after six years of marriage, her children now teenagers, Jackie found herself again turning to the literature and arts she had longed to pursue as a young woman. It had been fifteen years since her last byline, a campaign wife column for the Democratic National Committee, and she was itching to write again. She called William Shawn, legendary editor of the New Yorker, and proposed her first and only piece for the magazine, a lengthy Talk of the Town item on the new International Center for Photography and its executive editor, Cornell Capa.

With the pieces publication in January 1975, Jackie Onassis began one of the most remarkable years of her life. Although 1975 brought the death of her second husband, it was also a time of renaissance for the former first lady. She set out to find more personally fulfilling work; not only beginning to write again but taking on an editorial position at Viking Press. When landmark status was overturned for New Yorks historic Grand Central Station, Jackie led the Committee to Save Grand Central Station, throwing herself into the spotlight on behalf of landmark conservation. It was a tumultuous yet prolific year for Jacqueline Kennedy Onassis, andJackieAfter Orecounts this beloved icons steps toward fulfilling her dreams in middle age.

Reviews

"In addition to being compelling sketch of a widow seeking to rebuild her life, Cassidy's portrait of Jackie O also addresses grander, timely themes, such as the juggling of public and private lives, as well as the plight of women entering a still male-dominated workplace." -- Publishers Weekly

"With style and grace befitting her subject, Tina Cassidy reveals the remarkable third act of an iconic American life. JACKIE AFTER O takes us beyond Camelot and Aristotle to the woman herself as she discovers her voice, her strength, and her purpose. A delightful read." -- Mitchell Zuckoff, New York Times bestselling author of Lost in Shangri-La

"Sections set in the 1970s are juicy fun (names like Sinatra and Warhol abound), and Cassidy sprinkles her narrative with sharply observed social commentary. . . . This story of midlife reinvention is invigorating and inspiring." -- Boston Globe

Author Bio

Tina Cassidy was a reporter and editor at the Boston Globe for more than a decade, covering everything from business to politics to fashion. She is the author of Birth: The Surprising History of How We Are Born, published by Atlantic Monthly Press in 2006. She is the mother of two and lives in Massachusetts.