New Books Network Oline Eaton, "Finding Jackie: The Second Act of America's First Lady" (Diversion Books, 2023)
Jan 18, 2026
Oline Eaton, a scholar and writer specializing in Jacqueline Kennedy Onassis, shares insights from her book, *Finding Jackie: A Life Reinvented*. She unveils the lesser-known facets of Jackie's life, particularly her reinvention after JFK's assassination. Eaton discusses the impact of paparazzi, the trauma Jackie faced, and her struggles with media narratives. With fresh archival evidence, she highlights Jackie's bold decisions, including her scandalous marriage to Aristotle Onassis, and calls for diverse voices in women's biographies, challenging traditional narratives.
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A Research Project That Spanned Decades
- Oline Eaton framed decades of research into a single long-term project that began in childhood and matured through formal academic training.
- She finished the core manuscript during her PhD and refined it over years before publication.
Movie Magazines As Cultural Evidence
- Eaton used 1960s–70s movie magazines as cultural documents to trace Jackie’s public image as a 'star of life.'
- Those magazines revealed different, often melodramatic portrayals of grief than mainstream press accounts.
Recovering The Onassis Years
- Eaton intentionally centers Jackie’s post-assassination years to recover the erased Onassis period.
- She argues cultural memory sanitized those years to preserve an idealized image of womanhood.
