Grace and Power: The Private World of the Kennedy White House - Hardcover

Smith, Sally Bedell

Hardcover

ISBN 10: 0375504494 ISBN 13: 9780375504495

Publisher: Random House Inc, 2004

Synopsis

At the dawn of the 1960s, a forty-three-year-old president and his thirty-one-year-old first lady - the youngest couple ever to occupy the White House - captivated the world with their easy elegance and their cool conviction that anything was possible. Jack and Jackie Kennedy gathered around them an intensely loyal and brilliant coterie of intellectuals, journalists, diplomats, jet-setters, and artists. Their three remarkable years at center stage transformed the politics and style of America.
Sally Bedell Smith shows what it was really like to be inside the Kennedy White House. Drawing on interviews with scores of Kennedy intimates, including former lovers who have never spoken publicly before, and on private letters and personal papers, Smith sheds new light on the intricate relationships behind the high purpose and political drama of the twentieth century's most storied presidency.

About this title

Review

" After all the hundreds of books written about JFK and Jackie, this is the one that really tells the truth, that gets behind the layers of gossip and conspiracy and innuendo to tell the reader what life was actually like in the White House of Jack and Jackie Kennedy. Sally Bedell Smith is a phenomenal reporter with a sure command of her subject and a keen eye for telling detail and personal nuance. This is it: the last - and true - word on the Kennedy White House."
-EVAN THOMAS, author of "Robert Kennedy: His Life"
" GRACE AND POWER has the readability and texture of an absorbing novel of manners, but it is also a social history of an event-making president and first lady and their entourage at the center of a fateful time. Sally Bedell Smith has done an impressive job of revealing geological layers of the Kennedy world that, despite hundreds of previous books, have remained unseen until now."
-- MICHAEL BESCHLOSS, author of "The Conquerors"
" Sally Bedell Smith has produced a mesmerizing account of the Kennedy years that is filled with rich reporting, sophisticated insights, and riveting tales all put into historical perspective. Both Jack and Jackie come into vivid focus. We see the complex relations they had with their court of friends and advisers, and we feel the poignancy of such moments as the death of their son Patrick.
It' s a fascinating book written with grace and intelligence."
-WALTER ISAACSON, author of "Benjamin Franklin: an American Life"
" The Kennedys and their crowd always seemed just out of earshot. In GRACE AND POWER,
we at last hear what they were saying."
-JOSEPH J.ELLIS, author of "Founding Brothers"
" Sally Bedell Smith has not just come up with new information and fresh insights - she has made the story itself seem new and fresh and more compelling than ever. For those of us who remember the Kennedys, this book helps us better understand an episode that shaped our lives. For younger readers, GRACE AND POWER brilliantly captures a moment in history that shaped their world."
-- STROBE TALBOTT, author of "The Russia Hand"

"From the Hardcover edition."

After all the hundreds of books written about JFK and Jackie, this is the one that really tells the truth, that gets behind the layers of gossip and conspiracy and innuendo to tell the reader what life was actually like in the White House of Jack and Jackie Kennedy. Sally Bedell Smith is a phenomenal reporter with a sure command of her subject and a keen eye for telling detail and personal nuance. This is it: the last and true word on the Kennedy White House.
-EVAN THOMAS, author of "Robert Kennedy: His Life"
GRACE AND POWER has the readability and texture of an absorbing novel of manners, but it is also a social history of an event-making president and first lady and their entourage at the center of a fateful time. Sally Bedell Smith has done an impressive job of revealing geological layers of the Kennedy world that, despite hundreds of previous books, have remained unseen until now.
-- MICHAEL BESCHLOSS, author of "The Conquerors"
Sally Bedell Smith has produced a mesmerizing account of the Kennedy years that is filled with rich reporting, sophisticated insights, and riveting tales all put into historical perspective. Both Jack and Jackie come into vivid focus. We see the complex relations they had with their court of friends and advisers, and we feel the poignancy of such moments as the death of their son Patrick.
It s a fascinating book written with grace and intelligence.
-WALTER ISAACSON, author of "Benjamin Franklin: an American Life"
The Kennedys and their crowd always seemed just out of earshot. In GRACE AND POWER,
we at last hear what they were saying.
-JOSEPH J. ELLIS, author of "Founding Brothers"
Sally Bedell Smith has not just come up with new information and fresh insights she has made the story itself seem new and fresh and more compelling than ever. For those of us who remember the Kennedys, this book helps us better understand an episode that shaped our lives. For younger readers, GRACE AND POWER brilliantly captures a moment in history that shaped their world.
-- STROBE TALBOTT, author of "The Russia Hand"

"From the Hardcover edition.""

"After all the hundreds of books written about JFK and Jackie, this is the one that really tells the truth, that gets behind the layers of gossip and conspiracy and innuendo to tell the reader what life was actually like in the White House of Jack and Jackie Kennedy. Sally Bedell Smith is a phenomenal reporter with a sure command of her subject and a keen eye for telling detail and personal nuance. This is it: the last - and true - word on the Kennedy White House."
-EVAN THOMAS, author of Robert Kennedy: His Life
"GRACE AND POWER has the readability and texture of an absorbing novel of manners, but it is also a social history of an event-making president and first lady and their entourage at the center of a fateful time. Sally Bedell Smith has done an impressive job of revealing geological layers of the Kennedy world that, despite hundreds of previous books, have remained unseen until now."
-- MICHAEL BESCHLOSS, author of The Conquerors
"Sally Bedell Smith has produced a mesmerizing account of the Kennedy years that is filled with rich reporting, sophisticated insights, and riveting tales all put into historical perspective. Both Jack and Jackie come into vivid focus. We see the complex relations they had with their court of friends and advisers, and we feel the poignancy of such moments as the death of their son Patrick.
It's a fascinating book written with grace and intelligence."
-WALTER ISAACSON, author of Benjamin Franklin: an American Life
"The Kennedys and their crowd always seemed just out of earshot. In GRACE AND POWER,
we at last hear what they were saying."
-JOSEPH J. ELLIS, author of Founding Brothers
"Sally Bedell Smith has not just come up with new information and fresh insights - she has made the story itself seem new and fresh and more compelling than ever. For those of us who remember the Kennedys, this book helps us better understand an episode that shaped our lives. For younger readers, GRACE AND POWER brilliantly captures a moment in history that shaped their world."
-- STROBE TALBOTT, author of The Russia Hand

From the Hardcover edition.

About the Author

SALLY BEDELL SMITH is the author of bestselling biographies of William S. Paley, Pamela Churchill Harriman, and Princess Diana. A contributing editor at Vanity Fair since 1996, she previously worked at Time and The New York Times, where she was a cultural news reporter. She lives in Washington, D.C., with her husband, Stephen. They have three grown children.

About this edition

• Publisher: Random House Inc
• Publication date: 2004
• ISBN 10: 0375504494
• ISBN 13: 9780375504495
• Binding: Hardcover
• Edition number: 1