Before she was an iconic First Lady of the United States, Jackie Kennedy was a born-and-raised New Yorker. She loved everything about her city, from the natural beauty of the parks to the architectural history of the buildings. So when the owners of Grand Central wanted to build a skyscraper on top of the famous train station, Jackie knew they had to be stopped. She helped inspire thousands of people to come together and fight to protect the historic landmark. From letter-writing campaigns all the way to the Supreme Court, this little-known story celebrates winning in the face of immeasurable odds and how one person can make a big difference.
This is the story of Grand Central Terminal in New York City, a remarkable and beautiful building whose birth, survival, and restoration reflect the critical role architecture plays in the expansion of our cities.
In this captivating novel, New York Times bestselling author Fiona Davis takes readers into the glamorous lost art school within Grand Central Terminal, where two very different women, fifty years apart, strive to make their mark on a world set against them. For most New Yorkers, Grand Central Terminal is a crown jewel, a masterpiece of design. But for Clara Darden and Virginia Clay, it represents something quite different. For Clara, the terminal is the stepping stone to her future. It is 1928, and Clara is teaching at the lauded Grand Central School of Art. Though not even the prestige of the school can override the public's disdain for a "woman artist," fiery Clara is single-minded in her quest to achieve every creative success—even while juggling the affections of two very different men. But she and her bohemian friends have no idea that they'll soon be blindsided by the looming Great Depression...and that even poverty and hunger will do little to prepare Clara for the greater tragedy yet to come. By 1974, the terminal has declined almost as sharply as Virginia Clay's life. Dilapidated and dangerous, Grand Central is at the center of a fierce lawsuit: Is the once-grand building a landmark to be preserved, or a cancer to be demolished? For Virginia, it is simply her last resort. Recently divorced, she has just accepted a job in the information booth in order to support herself and her college-age daughter, Ruby. But when Virginia stumbles upon an abandoned art school within the terminal and discovers a striking watercolor, her eyes are opened to the elegance beneath the decay. She embarks on a quest to find the artist of the unsigned masterpiece—an impassioned chase that draws Virginia not only into the battle to save Grand Central but deep into the mystery of Clara Darden, the famed 1920s illustrator who disappeared from history in 1931.
An "inventive spy romp that's fast, playful and fun" inspired by an actual letter in the John F. Kennedy Library written by Jackie Kennedy, revealing her job offer from the newly formed CIA (Chris Ewan, author of The Good Thief's Guide to Venice). When young Jackie Bouvier receives her second assignment from the CIA, she knows it will go better than her first. She managed to survive the Paris job-while looking her best in Givenchy, no less-but now she's completed her official CIA training. So she's excited to show her boss exactly what she can do for her country. Her new mission: Go undercover in sultry Havana and investigate a young revolutionary named Fidel Castro. But before Jackie can infiltrate the communist cabal, she's in past her hemline in danger. In another exciting adventure, she colludes with Grace Kelly, dances with Frank Sinatra, and flirts with an up-and-coming congressman from Massachusetts. As the international intrigue escalates, Jackie must use all her finely honed skills to stay ahead of her enemies . . . and make sure spying never goes out of fashion.
An absorbing chronicle of a much overlooked chapter in Jacqueline Kennedy Onassis's life—her nineteen-year editorial career History remembers Jacqueline Kennedy Onassis as the consummate first lady, the nation's tragic widow, the millionaire's wife, and, of course, the quintessential embodiment of elegance. Her biographers, however, skip over an equally important stage in her life: her nearly twenty year long career as a book editor. Jackie as Editor is the first book to focus exclusively on this remarkable woman's editorial career. At the age of forty-six, one of the most famous women in the world went to work for the first time in twenty-two years. Greg Lawrence, who had three of his books edited by Jackie, draws from interviews with more than 125 of her former collaborators and acquaintances in the publishing world to examine one of the twentieth century's most enduring subjects of fascination through a new angle: her previously untouted skill in the career she chose. Over the last third of her life, Jackie would master a new industry, weather a very public professional scandal, and shepherd more than a hundred books through the increasingly corporate halls of Viking and Doubleday, publishing authors as diverse as Diana Vreeland, Louis Auchincloss, George Plimpton, Bill Moyers, Dorothy West, Naguib Mahfouz, and even Michael Jackson. Jackie as Editor gives intimate new insights into the life of a complex and enigmatic woman who found fulfillment through her creative career during book publishing's legendary Golden Age, and, away from the public eye, quietly defined life on her own terms.
Former Boston Globe reporter Tina Cassidy delivers a remarkable account of one year in the life of Jacqueline Kennedy Onassis, America’s favorite first lady and an international icon. 1975 was a year of monumental changes for Jackie: it was the year she lost her second husband, shipping magnate Aristotle Onassis, saved one of New York City’s cultural landmarks at Grand Central Station, and found her true calling—not as a powerful man’s wife or the mother of future leaders, but as a woman of the workforce with a keen mind and a dedication to excellence. Readers of Christopher Andersen’s Jackie After Jack and Pamela Clarke Keogh’s Jackie Style will find no better look at the intimate world of America’s Queen of Camelot than Tina Cassidy’s Jackie After O.
A unique perspective on the influence and enduring fascination of Jacqueline Kennedy Onassis What Jackie Taught Us offers insights about how Jackie lived with poise, grace, and zest, including wisdom about image and style, focus, courage and vision, men, marriage, and motherhood. After more than a decade in print, this commemorative edition features fourteen new essays from notable individuals amplifying the ways in which Jackie’s life has influenced them -- and society at large -- over the past fifty years, including contributions from syndicated columnists Liz Smith and Marguerite Kelly; authors Edna O’Brien, A.E. Hotchner and Malachy McCourt; president emeritus of the Municipal Art Society of New York, Kent Barwick; and former Metropolitan Museum of Art executive, Ashton Hawkins. "The book is a must-read for anyone fascinated with the famed first lady, with essays, insights and observations from notables like Liz Smith, C.D. Green and Malachy McCourt.” – Miami Herald “Twenty years after her death, we’re still curious about Jackie. From Flaherty’s book, we get some clues as to why.” – NewBooksinBiography.com An award-winning author, philanthropist, and pioneer businesswoman, Tina Santi Flaherty is a board member of the Animal Medical Center and the Churchill Centre, among others. She is the author of The Savvy Woman’s Success Bible (with Kay Gilman) and Talk Your Way to the Top. Visit her website at www.tinaflaherty.com. Follow her on Twitter @TinaSFlaherty.
In this ambitious and sweeping account, Taraborelli continues the family chronicle begun with his bestselling Jackie, Ethel, Joan and provides a behind-the-scenes look at the years "after Camelot." For more than half a century, Americans have been captivated by the Kennedys - their joy and heartbreak, tragedy and triumph, the dark side and the remarkable achievements. He describes the challenges Bobby's children faced as they grew into adulthood; Eunice and Sargent Shriver's remarkable philanthropic work; the emotional turmoil Jackie faced after JFK's murder and the complexities of her eventual marriage to Aristotle Onassis; the the sudden death of JFK JR; and the stoicism and grace of his sister Caroline. He also brings into clear focus the complex and intriguing story of Edward "Teddy" and shows how he influenced the sensibilities of the next generation and challenged them to uphold the Kennedy name. Based on extensive research, including hundreds of exclusive interviews, After Camelot captures the wealth, glamour, and fortitude for which the Kennedys are so well known. With this book, J. Randy Taraborrelli takes readers on an epic journey as he unfolds the ongoing saga of the nation's most famous-and controversial-family.
