Jacqueline Kennedy: First Lady of the New Frontier (Modern First Ladies)

Being a "Baby Boomer" I grew up during the time of "Camelot." Like so many people in this area I fell in love with the handsome young president and his beautiful bride. This is a very informative book and has wonderful pictures. I would recommend it to anyone who enjoys history and especially the presidential books.

At last - a book on Jackie Kennedy that does NOT focus on her pillbox hats! Barbara Perry gives a balanced and highly readable account of Jackie's early life, her three years in the White House, and her post-White House efforts to preserve her husband's legacy. Dr. Perry's approach is scholarly and her research seems to me to be solid. She successfully avoids the sensationalism and myth-making that diminish so many other books about this First Lady. I was particularly glad to find an in-depth treatment of Mrs. Kennedy's contributions to her husband's presidency, including her unwavering promotion of American arts and culture, the White House restoration project, her preservation efforts on Lafayette Square, and the international trips she took with her husband. Much of this information has been available to the American public for many decades, but Dr. Perry goes beneath the surface to present fresh details from first-hand sources. The reason I didn't give it five stars is because of the pictures. They are black and white (except for the book jacket), and are very poor quality. They detract from the seriousness of the book; it would have been wiser to omit them completely.

An excellent biography of Jacqueline Kennedy without the frills and style mania which so many other biographies lap up! This is a serious take on her tremendous work in the White House and how she restructured the role and office of First Lady of the United States and turned into a respected office of its own and laid the foundation for future First Ladies .

Book is ok in giving some inside information regarding her days in the White House but still tells a lot of the same stuff many other books on her say. A book on Jackie Kennedy that would tell things you never expected to hear would be a very rare book indeed. As the expression goes: same church - different pew.

I enjoyed this book very much and I would recommened this to anyone who lovers the kennedy years and what mrs. kennedy did in the short time in the white house one 1000 days.

I wish I'd been informed that this was a library book with a non removeable cover. It looks like I stole it from the Jefferson County Library.

As one of the most charismatic and intriguing women in modern American history, Jacqueline Kennedy has been the subject of numerous books, articles, and even made-for-television movies. Those attempts, however, focused almost exclusively on Mrs. Kennedy's aura of celebrity---until now. Enter Dr. Barbara Perry, the Carter Glass Professor of Government at Sweet Briar College in Virginia. In "Jacqueline Kennedy: First Lady of the New Frontier," Perry does an outstanding job of telling a familiar story from a scholar's perspective. She provides a highly readable, yet serious examination of Jacqueline Kennedy in the White House.In researching the glamorous and sometimes enigmatic First Lady, Dr. Perry states that her mission "was to write the first scholarly treatment of her [Kennedy's] work as first lady and filter out the extremes of previous books that range from hagiographic tributes to mean-spirited or sensationalized accounts." That mission was a particularly daunting one in that Jacqueline Kennedy's personal papers and oral history, located in the John F. Kennedy Library in Boston, remain closed. Not to be dissuaded, Dr. Perry apparently did exhaustive research into virtually every available primary source. The result is a fascinating, insightful look at a first lady who emerges as a surprisingly assertive, independent, and even bold actor on the White House stage. Jackie, of course, is best known as the driving force in the restoration of the White House, but she was equally influential in the creation of the White House Historical Society, the preservation of Lafayette Square, and support of the arts. Her personl correspondence on these projects is quite revealing, suggesting that she had a clear vision of how the White House, the presidency, and the first family should be presented to the public---and how she attempted to preserve and present her own identity. Professor Perry is especially effective in exploring this area, having previously authored a compelling analysis of the symbolism and imagery of the U.S. Supreme Court and how the court presents itself to the public (see "The Priestly Tribe: The Supreme Court's Image in the American Mind").Barbara Perry's work is a much-appreciated scholarly addition to the body of literature on Jacqueline Kennedy. Until the Kennedy papers are opened to the public (in about 40 years), it will stand unchallenged as the definitive account for viewing and understanding an American icon inside the White House.

Unlike more gosspiy biographies, political scientist Barbara Perry approaches the life of Jacqueline Bouvier Kennedy as a scholar. She writes about the early influences in her life, her role as first lady and the passions and causes that she undertook in her official life. Perry touches on such issues as JFK's infidelity and deftlly handles the criticism leveled at Mrs. Kennedy for, among other things, her spending on her wardrobe and her "francophile" attachments. So while the book doesn't get bogged down in the tawdry details of their personal lives, neither does it ignore them. It's a well-written, well-documented account of a White House that was so different than any other in modern times -- much due, in part, to the youth and flair of Jacqueline Kennedy. For those who want an objective account, this is an excellent read.