Camera Girl - by Carl Sferrazza Anthony (Paperback)

About the Book

"Before she met Jack Kennedy, Jacqueline Bouvier was a columnist at the Washington Times-Herald, the paper's 'Inquiring Camera Girl, ' who posed intelligent and amusing questions to the public on the streets of D.C. (while also snapping their photos with her unwieldy Leica camera). She then fashioned the results into a daily column, 600 of which were published in total. Carl Anthony, author and leading expert on First Ladies, uses these columns and other writings of hers from that time, as well as a trove of revealing interviews he has conducted with her friends and colleagues, to offer a fresh and modern perspective on the young woman who would later become one of the world's most beloved icons"--

Book Synopsis

This revealing biography of Jacqueline Bouvier Kennedy explores her early years as a writer, photographer, and ambitious young woman--offering a fresh portrait of the future First Lady before her life with John F. Kennedy.

"One of the most detailed, nuanced portraits of Jackie to date." --The Washington Post

From New York Times bestselling author and presidential historian Carl Sferrazza Anthony, Camera Girl is an illuminating and "wholly refreshing" (David Maraniss) look at Jackie's formative years in Paris, New York, and Washington, DC.

In the early 1950s, long before she became an international icon, Jacqueline Bouvier was a curious, driven young journalist working for the Washington Times-Herald as the "Inquiring Camera Girl." Armed with her Graflex camera, she roamed the streets of the nation's capital, capturing candid photographs and asking everyday Americans thoughtful, revealing questions--producing hundreds of widely read columns.

Drawing from these columns, previously unpublished writings, and original interviews with those who knew her, this richly detailed biography traces Jackie's coming-of-age as she pursued a career, challenged expectations placed on women, and navigated love, ambition, and identity.

A vivid work of narrative nonfiction, this book offers a compelling look at midcentury America, women in journalism, and the making of one of the most fascinating and influential women of the 20th century.

Review Quotes

"In Camera Girl, Carl Anthony slows down the story of Jacqueline Bouvier so that her complexity and wide range of interests can be grasped during the period of her life before marriage, political obligation, and tragedy--when she is forming a distinct sense of what role she hopes to someday play in the larger world. From designing her red 'Bouvier cape, ' to her descriptive letters of new cultures and shrewd assessments of individuals, to her cartooning skills, to translating and analyzing French diplomatic and military texts about Indochina, we see Jackie in her fullness. For anyone of any age, the Jackie in Camera Girl offers an example of intentional living."
--Secretary Hillary Rodham Clinton, #1 New York Times bestselling author of What Happened

"Carl Anthony has found a wholly refreshing way to look at one of the most gazed upon women in American history, while also revealing how essential Jackie Bouvier was to Jack Kennedy's intellectual and political development. Camera Girl is as delightful as it is insightful."
--David Maraniss, New York Times bestselling author of Barack Obama: The Story

"In this charming portrait, Carl Anthony traces the genesis of Jacqueline Kennedy's mesmerizing personality. Behind her privileged upbringing, Jackie coped with a dysfunctional family and cultivated an independent spirit as well as a questing intellect. In Anthony's telling, her determination to make her way on her own terms foreshadowed her groundbreaking role as First Lady."
--Sally Bedell Smith, New York Times bestselling author of Grace and Power: The Private World of the Kennedy White House

"A lively depiction of a young woman who relished every opportunity to regard the world from her own perspective."
--The New Yorker, Best Books of 2023

"Whether she's avoiding a traffic ticket after speeding in her car named Zelda, or translating books for Kennedy's report on the history of France in Indochina, this portrait of young Jackie Bouvier shines with wit and intelligence."
--Library Journal, starred review

"Camera Girl offers one of the most detailed, nuanced portraits of Jackie to date."
--The Washington Post

"A convincing and colorful reconsideration of a first lady known more for her style than her substance . . . [Anthony] sheds intriguing light on Jackie's stint as a columnist for the Washington Times-Herald, the engagement she called off prior to marrying JFK, and her volatile and occasionally violent relationship with her mother."
--Publishers Weekly

"The Jacqueline Bouvier whom Carl Anthony brings to life in these deeply researched pages is a revelation. She is defiant, curious, independent--and a rule-breaker determined to chart a course that would make history take notice."
--Karen Tumulty, author of The Triumph of Nancy Reagan

"Anthony uncovers the root of Jackie's distinctive blend of rebelliousness and vulnerability, independence and insecurity that would attract and confound supporters and critics alike. By drawing on extensive interviews with Jackie's contemporaries and family, oral histories, and presidential archives, Anthony delivers a well-rounded depiction of this eternally fascinating, covertly complicated, and perennially misunderstood historical and cultural icon."
--Booklist

"What shaped Jackie Kennedy Onassis to become one of the most influential women of the 20th century? In this lively, dishy account, author Carl Anthony traces four formative years when she was Jacqueline Bouvier, negotiating her way into adulthood with a determination and an independence that belied the reserved mien she showed to the world. 'Become distinct, ' she told herself. And so she did."
--Susan Page, New York Times bestselling author of The Matriarch: Barbara Bush and the Making of an American Dynasty

"Prior to her marriage to John F. Kennedy, Jacqueline Bouvier was an ambitious journalist and photographer, a remarkable period of her life captured in this engaging coming-of-age biography . . . Drawing on Bouvier's letters and interviews, Anthony pulls together a compelling portrait of a young woman facing both the problems of her time and timeless issues. Should she focus on her career or getting married? How can she be respectful to her problematic parents while still declaring her own adult independence? A well-crafted biography that could easily spawn both a delightful TV drama or a historical look at female journalists."
--Kirkus, starred review

"The preponderance of what Mr. Anthony shares with us is new information -- carefully researched and clearly presented -- outside of the 'Jackie canon.' The 16 pages of well-captioned photos are a valuable supplement to the text."
--The East Hampton Star

"This is not a book about Jacqueline. It's about Jackie, the young girl and woman who yearned to be a journalist, writer, illustrator and photographer before she met the man that made her world famous. ... It's a fascinating look inside not only who she was, but who she became."
--Fredericksburg Free Lance Star