Book description
Unlike so many other books, Grace and Power rejects gossip and
conspiracy theory to tell the story of John and Jackie's three years
in the White House soberly, comprehensively and sensitively, from
beginning to sudden end. Sally Bedell Smith's book on John and Jackie
Kennedy was hailed by authoritative reviewers on both sides of the
Atlantic as the most distinguished and well-written book on a
perennially fascinating subject for years. In the US the hardback was
high on the New York Times bestseller list for weeks. It is an
immensely poignant chronicle of pivotal historical events seen from
the inside out, from within the private home of the President and
First Lady. Amidst the superficial opulence of their social circle, we
see the Cuban Missile Crisis and the burgeoning American civil rights
movement from the perspective of an invalid president often barely
well enough to appear in public. Together with his young wife,
abandoned by her husband's relentless womanising, nevertheless changed
the politics and style of America. Grace and Power is the classic
account of that time.
Sally Bedell Smith is the author of For Love of Politics: The
Clintons in the White House, Diana: the Life of a Troubled Princess and
biographies of William Paley and Pamela Harriman. She lives in
Washington DC.