The untold story of how one woman's life was changed forever in a matter of seconds by a horrific trauma.
Barbara Leaming's extraordinary and deeply sensitive biography is the first book to document Jacqueline Kennedy Onassis' brutal, lonely and valiant thirty-one year struggle with post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) that followed JFK's assassination.
Here is the woman as she has never been seen before. In heartrending detail, we witness a struggle that unfolded at times before our own eyes, but which we failed to understand.
Leaming's biography also makes clear the pattern of Jackie's life as a whole. We see how a spirited young woman's rejection of a predictable life led her to John F. Kennedy and the White House, how she sought to reconcile the conflicts of her marriage and the role she was to play, and how the trauma of her husband's murder which left her soaked in his blood and brains led her to seek a very different kind of life from the one she'd previously sought.
A life story that has been scrutinized countless times, seen here for the first time as the serious and important story that it is. A story for our times at a moment when we as a nation need more than ever to understand the impact of trauma.
-
Creators
-
Publisher
-
Awards
-
Release date
October 28, 2014 -
Formats
-
OverDrive Listen audiobook
- ISBN: 9781427252333
- File size: 385685 KB
- Duration: 13:23:30
-
-
Languages
- English
-
Reviews
-
September 1, 2014
Much has been written about J.F.K.’s first lady, who was generational icon, but Leaming (Churchill Defiant) approaches Jackie’s story from a new perspective, contending that she suffered from PTSD, with all of its recurrent triggers and episodes. The first half of book focuses on Jackie’s early life and marriage; the second half is an examination of Jackie suffering in the wake of her husband’s traumatic assassination. Leaming explains Jackie’s behavior and reactions to specific events through the lens of contemporary knowledge about human reactions to trauma. For instance, her marriage to Aristotle Onassis is explained in terms of what it provided for her for a short time: safety. The possibility that Jackie had PTSD was first suggested in a letter from U.K. Prime Minister Harold Macmillan. Leaming draws the parallels between what Jackie went through and the cases of others who experienced trauma. Well-written and engaging, the book presents readers with yet another facet of a woman who has intrigued and beguiled the public for decades. -
Mrs. Onassis's life story is thoroughly explored in this lengthy work. Leaming's highly specific approach is to explain her post-presidential-assassination years within the framework of post-traumatic stress disorder, from which the author believes Mrs. Onassis suffered. Eliza Foss's narration is workmanlike and pleasant to the ears; however, it lacks emotion and enthusiasm. Furthermore, the author's narrow view of her subject wears thin and becomes repetitive, which creates an additional challenge for Foss. Her tone is erudite while the writing itself is conversational in style. This mismatch becomes grating at times. Those intrigued by even a hypothetical approach to explaining the mysteries of the former first lady will likely enjoy this. For others, it may be one biography to skip. W.A.G. © AudioFile 2015, Portland, Maine
-