Oline Eaton discusses her biography of Jackie Kennedy, Finding Jackie: A Life Reinvented
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About Finding Jackie: A Life Reinvented:
Jackie Kennedy was universally loved and to this day is still remembered as dignified, classy, a superior wife, mother, decorator, and hostess. But what story lies beneath that of the former First Lady? What is the true tale of the woman who later wore leather miniskirts, grew her hair long, and married infamous Greek shipping tycoon Ari Onassis?
Scholar and writer Oline Eaton charts the taboo and often dismissed story of Jackie, the life of a woman reinventing herself time and time again. In Reclaiming Jackie, she follows the "star of life" through her tragedies and triumphs with all the urgency and uncertainty she faced. Revealed is the Jackie the world has never seen, the Jackie who climbed pyramids, held fascinating jobs, lived abroad, married a scandalous man, saw a sex movie with him in a theater, and then judo-flipped a photographer on her way out. She frolicked braless and barefoot in Capri. She saved Grand Central. She stepped outside the rarefied world she'd been born into and exemplified the cultural changes of the 1960s and 70s.
With newly released archival evidence, Reclaiming Jackie illuminates the disconnect between the public story and what is now known of Jackie Kennedy Onassis' actual private life. Jackie has long been celebrated for her style rather than her substance but, when set in its full historical context, her story resonates today.
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A scholar of biographical writing and a writer of creative nonfiction, in her work, Oline Eaton examines the intersections of celebrity, feelings, feminism, language, and trauma. She holds degrees from Mississippi State University, the University of Chicago, and King’s College London, and teaches first year writing as a non-tenure track lecturer at Howard University. She lives in Washington, DC with her cats, Claude and Marcel. Find out more about her at www.findingjackie.com.
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