APRIL 5, 1999:  Those little Universe of Fashion books have spawned a new collection called the Universe of Stars, with a definition of "star" that is very broad. However, debuting with Universe of Stars: Jackie by Nicole "No Relation to Party of Five" Salinger ($18.95, Universe Vendome), the series merits mention simply because we're discussing fashion, and, well, any time's a good time to talk about Jackie. Salinger, ex-wife of Kennedy White House press secretary Pierre "Also No Relation to PO5" Salinger, follows the same successful format (a few pages of text, followed by many pages of pictures) as the Universe of Fashion titles. These books seem to be designed for the modern attention span. Of course, a small book about Jackie is about as much as we can bear right now, anyway.

Or so I thought, anyhow. Along comes Edward Klein with his second book about Jackie in a very short time. Just Jackie: Her Private Years ($25.95, Ballantine) might as well be Just Jackie: Her Private Parts and sold with a speculum. Mr. Klein, whose first Jackie book, All Too Human: The Love Story of Jack and Jackie Kennedy, claims to have been Jackie's good friend, but the idea of having a friend like Edward Klein is disturbing. Would you want your friend to tell the world that the last thing you did to your dead husband's body was grab his penis? And his gruesome description of the exhumation of "Baby Girl" (Arabella) Kennedy so that she could be buried next to her father at Arlington is nightmarish. Furthermore, Klein, who is better known as Walter Scott of "Walter Scott's Personality Parade" in Parade Magazine, also contends that Jackie's legendary troubled pregnancies were the result of chronic venereal disease acquired from JFK himself! Mr. Klein, you excavate new depths of trashiness with this new book, but, whither thou goest ...--S.M.M.

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