First published 2014
Barbara Leaming reveals how Jacqueline Kennedy Onassis spent thirty-one years wrestling with post-traumatic stress disorder following her husband's assassination. The biography traces Jackie's journey from a spirited young woman who rejected conventional expectations to her role as First Lady, then examines how the horror of November 22, 1963 transformed her completely. Leaming documents Jackie's attempts to navigate her complex marriage and public duties before that terrible day in Dallas left her covered in blood and forever changed. The author shows how this trauma shaped every decision that followed, from her controversial marriage to Aristotle Onassis to her later career in publishing. Rather than focusing on the glamorous public image, Leaming presents Jackie's internal battle with PTSD as a serious medical and personal struggle that played out largely hidden from public view. The book reframes Jackie's entire life story through the lens of trauma recovery, showing how one woman fought to rebuild herself after witnessing unimaginable violence. This perspective offers new understanding of her choices and behavior in the decades following the assassination.
Genres: biography, 20th-century, biography-memoir, 21st-century
Vibes: emotional, intimate, thought-provoking
Tropes: grief, mental-illness
Period: 1963
368 pages · Hardcover · Thomas Dunne Books
Content warnings: violence