Ladies' Man

From the New York Times bestselling author of Capote’s Women, a penetrating examination of President John F. Kennedy’s complicated, tumultuous life told through the lens of the women with whom he surrounded himself—giving voice to the fascinating women left as footnotes in JFK’s legacy.

John Fitzgerald Kennedy was a born leader—bold, charismatic, and able to charm his peers and disarm critics with nothing more than a witty phrase and a winning smile. He was also obsessive, manipulative, and haunted by complex desires. JFK was especially drawn to shiny, remarkable women, collecting them voraciously and carelessly on his rise to the White House and beyond. Once one entered his orbit, she might become his secret lover, his trusted helpmate, or his close confidant…only to be summarily dismissed when she no longer suited his needs. But these women were perhaps the only witnesses to the real JFK—the private man outside the glare of the spotlight—and it’s time their stories were finally told.

In Ladies’ Man, six-time New York Times bestselling biographer Laurence Leamer reveals the harrowing, intimate life of JFK. Leamer knew three of Kennedy’s mistresses, and Ladies Man is written with unprecedented intimacy and access. From JFK’s youthful indiscretions at boarding school, his early connections with such beautiful aristocratic European women as Inga Arvad and Gunilla Von Post, his marriage to the stately Jacqueline Bouvier, his affairs with Pamela Turnure and Diana de Vegh, his liaisons with mafia moll Judith Exner and East German spy Ellen Rometsch, to his relationship with Marilyn Monroe before her death, JFK’s affairs were multifaceted and often tragic. His cautious public persona contrasted sharply with his reckless personal life, where he took bewildering chances that could have destroyed him. And as JFK’s profile rose, so did his rashness.

Anyone who reads Ladies’ Man will never think about John F. Kennedy the same way again.