Here are 100 books that Jacqueline Bouvier Kennedy Onassis fans have personally recommended if you like Jacqueline Bouvier Kennedy Onassis. Book DNA is a community of 12,000+ authors and super readers sharing their favorite books with the world.

When you buy books, we may earn a commission that helps keep our lights on (or join the rebellion as a member).

Book cover of Jacqueline Kennedy: Historic Conversations on Life with John F. Kennedy

Steven Gillon Author Of America's Reluctant Prince: The Life of John F. Kennedy Jr.

From my list on the private lives of the Kennedy Family.

Why am I passionate about this?

My interest in the topic is both professional and personal. I spent four decades teaching about modern American history and the Kennedy presidency at Yale, Oxford, and the University of Oklahoma. A chance encounter with John F. Kennedy, Jr., at Brown University in the spring of 1981 led to a friendship that lasted until his tragic death in 1999. 

Steven's book list on the private lives of the Kennedy Family

Steven Gillon Why Steven loves this book

A few months after President Kennedy’s assassination, Mrs. Kennedy sat down for a series of interviews with the historian and family friend Arthur Schlesinger, Jr. Her eight hours of tapes, which remained sealed until a few years ago, are riveting and full of intimate, powerful details.

It is most rewarding to hear her whispery voice as she offers often pointed observations about the people and events that shaped her husband’s presidency.   

By Caroline Kennedy , Michael Beschloss ,

Why should I read it?

3 authors picked Jacqueline Kennedy as one of their favorite books, and they share why you should read it.

What is this book about?

To mark John F. Kennedy's centennial, celebrate the life and legacy of the 35th President of the United States.

In 1964, Jacqueline Kennedy recorded seven historic interviews about her life with John F. Kennedy. Now, for the first time, they can be read in this deluxe, illustrated eBook.

Shortly after President John F. Kennedy's assassination, with a nation deep in mourning and the world looking on in stunned disbelief, Jacqueline Kennedy found the strength to set aside her own personal grief for the sake of posterity and begin the task of documenting and preserving her husband's legacy. In January of…


If you love Jacqueline Bouvier Kennedy Onassis...

Book cover of The Rosewood Penny

The Rosewood Penny by J.S. Fields,

2023 Queer Indie Award Nominee!

The dragons of Yuro have been hunted to extinction.

On a small, isolated island, in a reclusive forest, lives bandit leader Marani and her brother Jacks. With their outlaw band they rob from the rich to feed themselves, raiding carriages and dodging the occasional vindictive…

Book cover of Grace and Power: The Private World of the Kennedy White House

Steven Gillon Author Of America's Reluctant Prince: The Life of John F. Kennedy Jr.

From my list on the private lives of the Kennedy Family.

Why am I passionate about this?

My interest in the topic is both professional and personal. I spent four decades teaching about modern American history and the Kennedy presidency at Yale, Oxford, and the University of Oklahoma. A chance encounter with John F. Kennedy, Jr., at Brown University in the spring of 1981 led to a friendship that lasted until his tragic death in 1999. 

Steven's book list on the private lives of the Kennedy Family

Steven Gillon Why Steven loves this book

I love how Smith tells the intimate story of Jack and Jackie’s relationship in the White House. Plenty of accounts describe how JFK exercised power during his brief tenure as president. That is not what interests Smith. She highlights how the pressure of the office impacted the relationship between the First Lady and the President.

There are plenty of juicy tales about JFK’s womanizing and his abuse of prescription medication. What I found most fascinating was how Jackie coped with it all. The Kennedys in Smith’s account are complicated and complex, talented and flawed, but above all else, very human. 

By Sally Bedell Smith ,

Why should I read it?

2 authors picked Grace and Power as one of their favorite books, and they share why you should read it.

What is this book about?

In GRACE & POWER: THE PRIVATE WORLD OF THE KENNEDY WHITE HOUSE, New York Times bestselling author Sally Bedell Smith takes us inside the Kennedy White House with unparalleled access and insight. Having interviewed scores of Kennedy intimates, including many who have never spoken before, and drawing on letters and personal papers made available for the first time, Smith paints a richly detailed picture of the personal relationships behind the high purpose and poiltical drama of the twentieth century's most storied presidency.
At the dawn of the 1960s, a forty-three-year-old president and his thirty-one-year-old first lady – the youngest couple…


Book cover of Mrs. Kennedy and Me

Steven Gillon Author Of America's Reluctant Prince: The Life of John F. Kennedy Jr.

From my list on the private lives of the Kennedy Family.

Why am I passionate about this?

My interest in the topic is both professional and personal. I spent four decades teaching about modern American history and the Kennedy presidency at Yale, Oxford, and the University of Oklahoma. A chance encounter with John F. Kennedy, Jr., at Brown University in the spring of 1981 led to a friendship that lasted until his tragic death in 1999. 

Steven's book list on the private lives of the Kennedy Family

Steven Gillon Why Steven loves this book

I love this book because of the unique perspective of the writer. Clint Hill was the secret service agent who jumped on the back of the presidential limousine in Dallas to protect Mrs. Kennedy in the seconds after the fatal bullets had struck the President.

His description of that moment and the following hours is as riveting as it is disturbing. Hill, assigned to protect the First Lady, spent more time with her than anyone else, and their relationship continued after she left the White House.  

By Clint Hill , Lisa McCubbin Hill ,

Why should I read it?

2 authors picked Mrs. Kennedy and Me as one of their favorite books, and they share why you should read it.

What is this book about?

Clint Hill will forever be remembered as the agent who jumped onto the car after President Kennedy was shot and clung to the sides of the car as it sped toward the hospital. Now, in Mrs. Kennedy and Me, he recounts those painful memories along with his fonder recollections of the First Lady's strength, class, dignity, and beauty during the time he was assigned as her personal agent.

Hill was by Mrs. Kennedy's side for some of the happiest moments in her life as well as the darkest. He was there for the birth of John, Jr. as well as…


If you love Barbara Leaming...

Book cover of Chilled to the Bone

Chilled to the Bone by B.D. Lawrence,

Jake Sledge, a rugged ex-cop turned private eye, teams up with his colossal partner Bobo to navigate the gritty streets of River City.

A murdered lawyer drags them into a web of political intrigue, neo-Nazi thugs, and bloody showdowns. With sharp wit and hard-hitting action, Jake tackles scumbags the only…

Book cover of The Kennedy Baby: The Loss That Transformed JFK

Barbara A. Perry Author Of Jacqueline Kennedy: First Lady of the New Frontier

From my list on Jacqueline Kennedy’s creation of Camelot’s magic.

Why am I passionate about this?

My passion for the Kennedy family dates to seeing JFK in person as a young child. Shortly after his death, my mother purchased a children’s book about the 35th president, which I read repeatedly and still have in my extensive “Kennedy library.” It led me to pursue a professional career as a political scientist, specializing in the presidency and First Ladies. I now direct Presidential Studies at the University of Virginia’s Miller Center, am a member of the Advisory Board of the John F. Kennedy Presidential Library Foundation, and serve on the Board of the White House Historical Association, founded by Mrs. Kennedy in 1961.

Barbara's book list on Jacqueline Kennedy’s creation of Camelot’s magic

Barbara A. Perry Why Barbara loves this book

This e-book by The Washington Post’s book editor is the moving account of Jackie’s heartbreaking loss of her and the president’s baby, Patrick, in August 1963. Always plagued by problematic pregnancies, resulting in a miscarriage and stillborn daughter in the 1950s, as First Lady Mrs. Kennedy hoped to give birth to her and the president’s third child (to join five-year-old Caroline and two-year-old John Jr.) in September 1963. But the baby arrived more than a month early, suffering from undeveloped lungs, and died within two days. Jackie and Jack were devastated. As they clung to each other in grief, the First Lady told her husband that she couldn’t bear to lose him. She would just three months later.

By Steven Levingston ,

Why should I read it?

1 author picked The Kennedy Baby as one of their favorite books, and they share why you should read it.

What is this book about?

A sensitive portrait of how a profound tragedy changed one of America's most prominent families.

Their marriage is the subject of countless books. His presidency has been pored over minute by minute by historians. They lived their lives in the public eye and under a microscope that magnified all of their flaws, all of their scandals, all of their tragedies. Now Steven Levingston, nonfiction editor at the Washington Post, presents a devastating story in unprecedented detail, about a child John and Jackie Kennedy loved and lost. On August 7, 1963, heavily pregnant Jackie Kennedy collapsed, marking the beginning of a…


Book cover of One Base at a Time: How I Survived PTSD and Found My Field of Dreams

Dale Scott Author Of The Umpire Is Out: Calling the Game and Living My True Self

From my list on inspirational stories from Major League Baseball.

Why am I passionate about this?

With 37 years as a professional umpire, the last 32 with MLB, you can’t help but have a ton of stories. The umpire books I recommend have those and more. Funny, entertaining, revealing, and educational, hearing what happened from the person it was happening to give a unique look to America’s pastime. Being the first active male big 5 sports official (Baseball, Football, Basketball, Hockey, Soccer) to come out as gay in 2014, I also understand the added stress that brings and the courage it takes to live your true self on such a big stage.

Dale's book list on inspirational stories from Major League Baseball

Dale Scott Why Dale loves this book

A different look at the dream of being in the big leagues, this time not from an umpire but the person who puts the field in field of dreams.

David Mellor was a talented player whose aspirations were crushed, literally, after a car struck him in a McDonald’s parking lot. Setbacks, traumas, and unbelievably getting mowed down again by a deranged driver, he unwarily suffered PTSD.

Through it all he persevered to rise up as the Head Groundskeeper of his beloved Boston Red Sox, renowned as one of the best in all of baseball. 

By David R. Mellor ,

Why should I read it?

1 author picked One Base at a Time as one of their favorite books, and they share why you should read it.

What is this book about?

"Dave Mellor has built one of baseball's most inspirational stories over the last half-century. Anchored by a love for his family and the game, he survived incomprehensible catastrophes and PTSD to become a pioneering ballfield artist and head groundskeeper for Fenway Park."

-Buster Olney, ESPN

On July 10, 1981, David Mellor was just a baseball-crazed kid, a star high school pitcher preparing to go to college and dreaming of one day taking the mound in Fenway Park for his beloved Boston Red Sox. His dream was derailed as he crossed the parking lot of a McDonald's. He heard the racing…


Book cover of Among You: The Extraordinary True Story of a Soldier Broken By War

Joe Talon Author Of Counting Crows

From my list on spooky minds and old soldiers who never give up.

Why am I passionate about this?

I’ve written about war for years. To be honest, it all began in school when we studied the terrible events of The Great War. Hearing the hearts shatter of men on the frontline never left me. I wanted to understand. I needed to understand. PTSD is something I’m familiar with, even if I’ve never been on the front line in battle. I’m also obsessed with myths, legends, ghost stories, and mysteries. My Lorne Turner series combines my passions and the books shine a light, in fiction, on what happens to old soldiers when they come home.

Joe's book list on spooky minds and old soldiers who never give up

Joe Talon Why Joe loves this book

This is a story that deals with old soldiers who never give up. It’s the story of Jake surviving Afghanistan as a serving soldier. I write about soldiers with PTSD, so it’s important I study the area, and it can be tough. Really tough. Heartbreaking to read about the effects of war on the mind of a soldier. I’ve read several, but this one really knocked me for six. It’s an educated, intelligent narrative about a young life full of honour, duty, passion, and hope. Then he goes to war. If we are ever to understand why war is so terrible, then we need to listen to those on the front line. Highly recommended for those brave enough.

By Jake Wood ,

Why should I read it?

1 author picked Among You as one of their favorite books, and they share why you should read it.

What is this book about?

Among You is the gripping real-life story of a soldier serving on the front line in Iraq and Afghanistan, and an unforgettable, unflinching account of the effects of post-traumatic stress disorder.

Jake Wood lives parallel lives: encased in the glass tower of an international investment bank by day, he is also a dedicated TA soldier who serves on the front line during the invasion of Iraq, later returning to the war zone to conduct surveillance on insurgents. Disillusioned with the dullness and amorality of the banking world, he escapes back to the army for a third tour of duty. But…


If you love Jacqueline Bouvier Kennedy Onassis...

Book cover of The Woman and Her Stars

The Woman and Her Stars by Penny Haw,

Caroline Herschel has always lived in the shadows. Beholden to her wildly popular older brother, William, who rescued her from servitude, she's worked hard to build a life for herself – one where she can go unnoticed and repay the debt she believes she owes him. But when her brother…

Book cover of Walking It Off: A Veteran's Chronicle of War And Wilderness

Guy McPherson Author Of Killing the Natives: A Retrospective Analysis

From my list on the beauty and power of the American West.

Why am I passionate about this?

I spent most of my life in the western United States. Born and raised in northern Idaho, a professorial position attracted me to Tucson, Arizona, the long-time home of Edward Abbey. Cactus Ed said it best: “The idea of wilderness needs no defense. It only needs more defenders. Remaining silent about the destruction of nature is an endorsement of that destruction.” Upon reading books by Abbey and others writing about the American West, I became a defender of the idea of wilderness.

Guy's book list on the beauty and power of the American West

Guy McPherson Why Guy loves this book

Peacock is one of two authors who make me want to put down the book and take a hike. I am an avid reader, and the ability of Peacock to make me put down his book is astonishing. Walking it Off is simultaneously a personal journey in light of the death of his friend Edward Abbey and also a pragmatic guide to hiking in the southwestern United States. This book reveals Peacock and his relationship with Edward Abbey, the desert anarchist.

By Doug Peacock ,

Why should I read it?

1 author picked Walking It Off as one of their favorite books, and they share why you should read it.

What is this book about?

When he wrote The Monkey Wrench Gang in 1975, Edward Abbey became the spokesperson for a generation of Americans angered by the unthinking destruction of our natural heritage. Without consultation, Abbey based the central character of eco-guerilla George Washington Hayduke on his friend Doug Peacock. Since then Peacock has become an articulate environmental individualist writing about the West's abundant wildscapes. Abbey and Peacock had an at times stormy, almost father and son relationship that was peacefully resolved in Abbey's last days before his death in 1989. This rich recollection of their relationship and the dry places they explored are recalled…


Book cover of System Collapse

Karen Haber Author Of That Unfortunate Problem with Grandmother's Head and Other Stories

From my list on science fiction and fantasy books that keep me reading.

Why am I passionate about this?

I began reading science fiction when I was 8 years old and "borrowed" my father’s library books until, in defense, he got me my own library card. Not only have I spent decades reading SF, I’ve written it as well. As a veteran reader and writer with plenty of kill marks on my fuselage, I'm literally married to the SF mob (Grandmaster Robert Silverberg, is my spouse). I can both walk the walk and talk the talk. And after writing 9 SF novels including a Star Trek Book and reading uncounted SF and F tales, I still think science fiction and fantasy can be a literature of ideas illuminating the human condition.

Karen's book list on science fiction and fantasy books that keep me reading

Karen Haber Why Karen loves this book

Oh, the delicious snark of it all. Murderbot may—or may not—have a human heart, but what it does have is attitude with a capital A.

System Collapse focuses on the further adventures of the cyberbot security unit that has hacked itself free from dangerous behavioral controls and named itself Murderbot. The gender-free bot is suffering from PTSD resulting in memory lapses and odd behavior that endangers not only Murderbot but the humans they're protecting from being killed/enslaved by evil Corporate raiders and/or contaminated by deadly alien biotech.

Some of the funniest moments come when human characters try to get touchy-feely with Murderbot, much to their horror. Honestly, Murderbot would rather just watch soap operas with buddy/significant other, ART, the AI ship they live on. It helps to have read the previous 6 books to know who all the characters are and their histories.

By Martha Wells ,

Why should I read it?

3 authors picked System Collapse as one of their favorite books, and they share why you should read it.

What is this book about?

The million-copy, New York Times bestselling Murderbot series is back in another full-length novel adventure!

Am I making it worse? I think I'm making it worse.

Everyone's favorite lethal SecUnit is back.

Following the events in Network Effect, the Barish-Estranza corporation has sent rescue ships to a newly-colonized planet in peril, as well as additional SecUnits. But if there’s an ethical corporation out there, Murderbot has yet to find it, and if Barish-Estranza can’t have the planet, they’re sure as hell not leaving without something. If that something just happens to be an entire colony of humans, well, a free…


Book cover of Mrs. Dalloway

Jesse Wolfe Author Of Love, Friendship, and Narrative Form After Bloomsbury: The Progress of Intimacy in History

From my list on love and historical progress.

Why am I passionate about this?

I’m an English professor, a poet, a lover of reading, and a happy husband and father. How did all this happen; what historical processes made my good fortunes possible? I get answers to these questions from great fiction and great nonfiction. It’s hard to find two more sensitive and beautifully written novels about marriage’s personal and social dimensions than Virginia Woolf’s Mrs. Dalloway and E. M. Forster’s Howards End. Their psychological insights are complemented by two marriage historians and one sociologist with broad knowledge about love’s evolution over the centuries. I’ve read these books multiple times and shared them with many students (and friends)! They never get old.

Jesse's book list on love and historical progress

Jesse Wolfe Why Jesse loves this book

I love this novel because of its ravishingly beautiful prose and deep insights into sexual selfhood. Set one day in June 1923, this book takes us into the mind of its middle-aged heroine, Clarissa Dalloway, as she prepares to host a party and reminisces about her life three decades ago.

As a teenager, she loved a daring, aristocratic woman (Sally), a passionate but troubled man (Peter), and a comparatively boring but dependable man (Richard, to whom she has long been married). What did love mean to her thirty years ago, and what does it mean now? Did she make the right romantic choice, given the constraints of her society? Virginia Woolf leaves her readers space to ponder these questions for themselves.

By Virginia Woolf ,

Why should I read it?

8 authors picked Mrs. Dalloway as one of their favorite books, and they share why you should read it.

What is this book about?

The working title of Mrs. Dalloway was The Hours. The novel began as two short stories, "Mrs. Dalloway in Bond Street" and the unfinished "The Prime Minister". It describes Clarissa's preparations for a party she will host in the evening, and the ensuing party. With an interior perspective, the story travels forward and back in time and in and out of the characters' minds to construct an image of Clarissa's life and of the inter-war social structure.


In October 2005, Mrs. Dalloway was included on Time's list of the 100 best English-language novels written since Time debuted in 1923.


If you love Barbara Leaming...

Book cover of Murder, Lies and Chocolate

Murder, Lies and Chocolate by Sally Berneathy,

Book 2, Death by Chocolate series.

Rodney Bradford comes into Lindsay's restaurant, offers to buy her small house for double its value, eats her brownies, and drops dead on the sidewalk in front. Next, her almost-ex-husband offers to sign the divorce papers, but only if she'll give him her small,…

Book cover of Blaze

Jemi Fraser Author Of Pick Your Spot

From my list on small-town, found-family romances.

Why am I passionate about this?

I’ve always lived in a small city in Northern Ontario (Canada) that is surrounded by smaller towns and even smaller villages. I’m a first-generation Canadian who grew up without extended family any closer than Scotland. I’ve learned first-hand how wonderful found families can be. Once I started writing, I was drawn to happy endings and small-town settings where everyone knows your business but has your back too. I hope you enjoy these small-town recommendations as much as I do. Here’s to small towns, found families, and happy endings!

Jemi's book list on small-town, found-family romances

Jemi Fraser Why Jemi loves this book

Lynn writes fantastic romantic suspense stories.

Her various HOT series are terrific, so when she decided to write a small-town romantic suspense story, I knew I’d be all in. In this first book of her Ghost Ops series, she takes her characters to the small town of Sutton’s Creek, and the result is fantastic!

I love the effect this small town has on these kick-ass heroes. They’ll do anything for the right woman, and as luck would have it, this small town has more than a few! I love how Blaze and Emma try to fight the attraction (for good reasons), but love conquers all!

By Lynn Raye Harris ,

Why should I read it?

1 author picked Blaze as one of their favorite books, and they share why you should read it.

What is this book about?

Dead to their pasts. Ghosts. No family ties. No connections. Six men with a top-secret mission move to a small town where they have to navigate local life, protect their secret, and, above all, stay single. Former Hostile Operations Team soldier Blaze "Shadow" Connolly knows what it’s like to lose everything. He’s got nobody except his job and his team and that’s the way he likes it.But when he walks into a gas station during a robbery and locks eyes with Emma Grace Sutton, he knows he’ll do anything to protect the pretty girl with the blue glasses.ER doctor Emma…


Book cover of Jacqueline Kennedy: Historic Conversations on Life with John F. Kennedy
Book cover of Grace and Power: The Private World of the Kennedy White House
Book cover of Mrs. Kennedy and Me

Share your top 3 reads of 2025!

And get a beautiful page showing off your 3 favorite reads.

1,340

readers submitted
so far, will you?

5 book lists we think you will like!

Interested in PTSD, American first ladies, and celebrities?

PTSD 117 books
Celebrities 50 books