Product Description
Death
was merciful to Jacqueline Kennedy Onassis, for it spared her a
parent's worst nightmare: the loss of a child. But if Jackie had lived
to see her son, JFK Jr., perish in a plane crash on his way to his
cousin's wedding, she would have been doubly horrified by the familiar
pattern in the tragedy. Once again, on a day that should have been full
of joy and celebration, America's first family was struck by the
Kennedy Curse.In this probing expose, renowned Kennedy biographer
Edward Klein-a bestselling author and journalist personally acquainted
with many members of the Kennedy family-unravels one of the great
mysteries of our time and explains why the Kennedys have been subjected
to such a mind-boggling chain of calamities.Drawing upon scores of
interviews with people who have never spoken out before, troves of
private documents, archives in Ireland and America, and private
conversations with Jackie, Klein explores the underlying pattern that
governs the Kennedy Curse. The reader is treated to penetrating
portraits of the Irish immigrant Patrick Kennedy; Rose Kennedy's
father, "Honey Fitz"; the dynasty's founding father Joe Kennedy and his
ill-fated daughter Kathleen, President Kennedy, accused rapist William
Kennedy Smith, and the star-crossed lovers, JFK Jr. and Carolyn
Bessette. Each of the seven profiles demonstrates the basic premise of
this book: The Kennedy Curse is the result of the destructive
collision between the Kennedy's fantasy of omnipotence-an unremitting
desire to get away with things that others cannot-and the cold, hard
realities of life.
About the Author
Edward Klein is the author of the New York Times bestsellers All Too Human: The Love Story of Jack and Jackie Kennedy and Just Jackie : Her Private Years. He covered John F. Kennedy's 1960 presidential campaign, served as a foreign correspondent in Asia, and was foreign editor of Newsweek. During his eleven years as editor in chief of The New York Times Magazine, it won the first Pulitzer Prize in its history. His articles have appeared in New York, Manhattan, inc., Vanity Fair, and Parade, for which he also writes "Walter Scott's Personality Parade." He is the author of the novel The Parachutists. He lives with his wife, Dolores Barrett, in New York City and Bridgehampton, Long Island.