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Personal History: A Memoir
Madrid. 22 cm. 557 p. Encuadernación en tapa blanda de editorial ilustrada. Graham, Katharine 1917-2001. Traducción de María Luisa Rodríguez Tapia y José Manuel Calvo Roy. Título Personal history .. Este libro es de segunda mano y tiene o puede tener marcas y señales de su anterior propietario. 9788416001569
642 pages, Paperback
First published January 1, 1997
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About the author
Katharine Graham
29 books81 followersKatharine Meyer Graham was an American publisher. She led her family's newspaper, The Washington Post, for more than two decades, overseeing its most famous period, the Watergate coverage that eventually led to the resignation of President Richard Nixon. Her memoir, Personal History, won the Pulitzer Prize in 1998.
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 1,438 reviews
February 25, 2014
This book is fascinatingly uninteresting. Katharine Graham lived bigger than most of us ever will, meeting Albert Einstein, kicking it with President Kennedy, living in homes decorated with Renoirs and Manets, spending summers at a second home with horses and daily refreshed flower bouquets, traveling the world, attending both Vassar and The University of Chicago, battling unions, investing with Warren Buffet, and broadcasting the Watergate scandal. Her life should have made for an interesting read, yet it simply wasn't. Too many characters, too much pride, too much passivism. I was disappointed to find that the leader of the Washington Post simply deferred to her publisher and her editor in most situations. She seemed to know nothing about running the paper, and at the same time, this 630-page monster-of-a-book is ONLY about the paper. She spends inadequate time discussing her own feelings. Was it really as easy as she made it seem to accept her husband back after his public affair and attempted divorce? Did the 4 or 5 miscarriages really not affect her enough to dedicate a full paragraph to them? The cover of this book shows an aged Katharine Graham, which seems fitting since it reads as dryly as an old lady reciting the encyclopedia. If you want a more interesting story, ask me about my day.
May 3, 2009
This book was over six hundred pages and I enjoyed them all. While Katharine Graham's autobiography is ostensibly her own history, it's also the history of our country. Beginning with her father, Eugene Meyer, and his close dealings with the Hoover Administration and going all the way through her own birds-eye view of various presidents, including Roosevelt, Truman, Kennedy, Johnson, and, most fascinating of all, Nixon.
Graham's life was supposed to be much different. Married to Phil Graham who ran her family's paper, the Washington Post, with four children, she thought she would be mother, wife and hostess. Sadly, Phil's little understood bipolar disease created havoc for the family before causing him to take his own life. She was thrust into the position of taking over the Washington Post.
Vast in scope and yet filled with personal insights (President Kennedy sent a plane to bring Phil back to Washington when he had a public mental breakdown), it's a fascinating look at the way government really works, in the salons and dining rooms of Georgetown. Even though the press often had a tumultuous relationship with many of the administrations, it was interesting that they could all meet for dinner the next evening and behave in a civilized fashion. Until Nixon, that is. Even though most of us know that Watergate was bad, Mrs. Graham's book really made me realize how personal and how vicious Nixon and his White House Guard were. The Post was truly out there, hanging in the wind alone, for quite awhile before other papers joined them and the book takes the reader through a series of gutsy decisions that likely changed the course of our nation.
My greatest disappointment was learning that Kay Graham died in 2001. I wish I could have written her and let her know how much this book taught me and how much her life meant. From a self-doubting woman, who was always the only female in the boardroom, to a confident person, she is a wonderful teacher and role model for all of us. I read that her daughter, author Lally Weymouth, didn't want her to write this book. Perhaps it's because Graham discusses Phil's mental illness, infidelity and suicide. I felt she did it with grace and love, however, but I'm sure it was hard for her daughter. I, for one, however, am grateful she had to courage to do so.
Graham's life was supposed to be much different. Married to Phil Graham who ran her family's paper, the Washington Post, with four children, she thought she would be mother, wife and hostess. Sadly, Phil's little understood bipolar disease created havoc for the family before causing him to take his own life. She was thrust into the position of taking over the Washington Post.
Vast in scope and yet filled with personal insights (President Kennedy sent a plane to bring Phil back to Washington when he had a public mental breakdown), it's a fascinating look at the way government really works, in the salons and dining rooms of Georgetown. Even though the press often had a tumultuous relationship with many of the administrations, it was interesting that they could all meet for dinner the next evening and behave in a civilized fashion. Until Nixon, that is. Even though most of us know that Watergate was bad, Mrs. Graham's book really made me realize how personal and how vicious Nixon and his White House Guard were. The Post was truly out there, hanging in the wind alone, for quite awhile before other papers joined them and the book takes the reader through a series of gutsy decisions that likely changed the course of our nation.
My greatest disappointment was learning that Kay Graham died in 2001. I wish I could have written her and let her know how much this book taught me and how much her life meant. From a self-doubting woman, who was always the only female in the boardroom, to a confident person, she is a wonderful teacher and role model for all of us. I read that her daughter, author Lally Weymouth, didn't want her to write this book. Perhaps it's because Graham discusses Phil's mental illness, infidelity and suicide. I felt she did it with grace and love, however, but I'm sure it was hard for her daughter. I, for one, however, am grateful she had to courage to do so.
December 6, 2007
I don't always like biographies - they can be very self serving and trite. But I was blown away by this woman. Frankly, I didn't know much about her or her story of taking over the Washington Post upon the death of her husband - a job she really had been preparing for her whole life, if she knew it or not. Katherine Graham is a amazing, strong and wise woman, and she tells her tale in a very honest way, sharing her flaws, her mistakes and her regrets as lessons for the rest of us. She had a seat at the table for some of the biggest stories of our time, yet she makes each of these stories deeply personal in the telling. She's an inspiration for women in business, and who struggle to manage family, social, political and work obligations. A remarkable woman, a remarkable life, and a remarkable book.
October 14, 2008
This book had incredible potential. It could have easily been one of the most fascinating American autobiographies ever written. Instead, though I plowed my way through the whole thing, it was tepid, vapid, and bordered on dull.
Katherine Graham was born into the Washington elite. She met and socialized with every major political figure during her lifetime. She counted Lyndon Johnson, John and Jackie Kennedy, and Truman Capote among her close personal friends. Her husband, who grew up on a dairy farm in Florida, made a startling rise to the forefront of politics and became a close political advisor to several presidents and ran both the Washington Post and Newsweek, before suffering a complete mental collapse and committing suicide. After his death Kay Graham became one of the first female CEO's of a prominent American company. She dated powerful men including Henry Kissinger, Adlai Stevenson, and Warren Buffet. As the president of the Washington Post company she was a key player in the publication of the Pentagon Papers and the revelation of the Watergate scandal.
However, in her hands, her life is reduced to a series of cocktail parties, country house weekends and lunches where everyone is charming and witty and things are just lovely. There is no attempt to take the major figures of American History and turn them for the reader into the real people that they were for Graham. She provides no real insight into the incredible trauma that she suffered when her husband died and or into the triumphs she enjoyed as a major American businesswoman. I felt like the book was constant namedropping and a compilation of memos regarding hiring and firing decisions at the Post company. I don't understand why this book won the Pulitzer Prize, unless it was awarded to her for her reputation and accomplishments rather than the actual writing. A biography of Katharine Graham, by a more talented writer, might be a much more satisfying read.
Katherine Graham was born into the Washington elite. She met and socialized with every major political figure during her lifetime. She counted Lyndon Johnson, John and Jackie Kennedy, and Truman Capote among her close personal friends. Her husband, who grew up on a dairy farm in Florida, made a startling rise to the forefront of politics and became a close political advisor to several presidents and ran both the Washington Post and Newsweek, before suffering a complete mental collapse and committing suicide. After his death Kay Graham became one of the first female CEO's of a prominent American company. She dated powerful men including Henry Kissinger, Adlai Stevenson, and Warren Buffet. As the president of the Washington Post company she was a key player in the publication of the Pentagon Papers and the revelation of the Watergate scandal.
However, in her hands, her life is reduced to a series of cocktail parties, country house weekends and lunches where everyone is charming and witty and things are just lovely. There is no attempt to take the major figures of American History and turn them for the reader into the real people that they were for Graham. She provides no real insight into the incredible trauma that she suffered when her husband died and or into the triumphs she enjoyed as a major American businesswoman. I felt like the book was constant namedropping and a compilation of memos regarding hiring and firing decisions at the Post company. I don't understand why this book won the Pulitzer Prize, unless it was awarded to her for her reputation and accomplishments rather than the actual writing. A biography of Katharine Graham, by a more talented writer, might be a much more satisfying read.
June 21, 2013
My general rule of thumb when someone writes a book about herself-- approach it with a healthy amount of skepticism. How many of us can turn inward and take a critical look without skewing/slanting the results? Not many, but after reading this book, I am convinced that is exactly what Katharine Graham did in Personal History.
Above all things, this book feels honest. It is also moving, heartbreaking, perceptive, historical and inspiring. The book is multi-faceted. I appreciated the light it shed on the evolution of the women's movement and the devastating effects mental illness can have on family and loved ones. As a professional, the telling of her business experiences in a male-dominated industry felt real and perceptive. Her decision to go back to work running The Washington Post after being at home to raise her children for several years was inspiring (though not without significant personal cost).
To top all this off her writing was excellent and memorable, a rare find in a memoir.
Above all things, this book feels honest. It is also moving, heartbreaking, perceptive, historical and inspiring. The book is multi-faceted. I appreciated the light it shed on the evolution of the women's movement and the devastating effects mental illness can have on family and loved ones. As a professional, the telling of her business experiences in a male-dominated industry felt real and perceptive. Her decision to go back to work running The Washington Post after being at home to raise her children for several years was inspiring (though not without significant personal cost).
To top all this off her writing was excellent and memorable, a rare find in a memoir.
July 27, 2018
Katharine Meyer Graham's autobiography takes us from her childhood as the daughter of a successful businessman to being the powerful woman at the head of the Washington Post. Katharine Meyer and her siblings were mainly raised by their nursemaid and governess as young children. Their mother was an eccentric writer and artist, and their father owned the Washington Post. After Katharine's college years, she did some writing for the Post. She married Phil Graham, a brilliant, charismatic young lawyer who clerked at the Supreme Court. Her father passed the Washington Post on to Phil who expanded the business by buying Newsweek and some television stations. Phil was very involved in politics, especially with Presidents Kennedy and Johnson. Phil's behavior began to become very erratic, he was diagnosed as manic-depressive, and he eventually took his own life.
People expected Katharine to sell the newspaper, but she wanted to keep it in the family and pass it on to her children. She was thrust into the role of publisher, and did a lot of learning on the job. Some of the most interesting parts of the book include the Post's coverage of the Pentagon Papers, Watergate, working with the editor Ben Bradlee, and the pressmen's strike. Her friends and business associates would fill a volume of "Who's Who in America". In an age when there were few women executives, Katharine Graham was the only woman in the Fortune 500. She was involved with the successful Washington Post until her mid-80s.
In addition to being a fascinating autobiography, "Personal History" is also an interesting look back at over sixty years of social and political history. Katharine used good taste in choosing stories, humorous anecdotes, and personal letters to include in the book. It was the winner of the Pulitzer Prize for Biography and Autobiography in 1998.
People expected Katharine to sell the newspaper, but she wanted to keep it in the family and pass it on to her children. She was thrust into the role of publisher, and did a lot of learning on the job. Some of the most interesting parts of the book include the Post's coverage of the Pentagon Papers, Watergate, working with the editor Ben Bradlee, and the pressmen's strike. Her friends and business associates would fill a volume of "Who's Who in America". In an age when there were few women executives, Katharine Graham was the only woman in the Fortune 500. She was involved with the successful Washington Post until her mid-80s.
In addition to being a fascinating autobiography, "Personal History" is also an interesting look back at over sixty years of social and political history. Katharine used good taste in choosing stories, humorous anecdotes, and personal letters to include in the book. It was the winner of the Pulitzer Prize for Biography and Autobiography in 1998.
January 20, 2009
Boy this book could have used an editor. Although it was an interesting insider look at the newspaper business, Graham was repetitive in the way she described the trajectory of her life and that of her career, using too many specific instances and detail that did not always illuminate her point. More showing and less telling would have helped. As would have shaping the narrative into themes, rather than just giving us everything as it happened like some sort of chronological laundry list.
May 19, 2013
Katharine Graham was thrust into the middle of history, much against her own introverted instincts. She was happy to play supportive housewife and mother while her father ran the Washington Post, succeeded by her brilliant, dynamic and bipolar husband, Phil Graham. Phil was a hugely influential figure in Washington; in one manic stretch he almost single-handedly engineered the Kennedy-Johnson presidential ticket.
But as his illness grew increasingly worse (and remained unmedicated), he spiraled out of control, carrying on a very public (and for Katharine, humiliating) affair with an Australian journalist, and eventually shooting himself. Left alone to run the newspaper, she could have handed the job off to other, more experienced hands, but she was able to draw on inner strength she didn't know she possessed. Through many trials and errors, about which she is unsparing candid, she guided the Post through the Pentagon Papers, labor unrest and Watergate. All this at a time when women were almost automatically assumed to be incapable of leading a business.
Her story, written without resorting to a ghost-writer, is fascinating, harrowing and ultimately quite moving. It is also, incidentally, a good education on some of the major events of the Twentieth Century from an insider's perspective. Highly recommended!
But as his illness grew increasingly worse (and remained unmedicated), he spiraled out of control, carrying on a very public (and for Katharine, humiliating) affair with an Australian journalist, and eventually shooting himself. Left alone to run the newspaper, she could have handed the job off to other, more experienced hands, but she was able to draw on inner strength she didn't know she possessed. Through many trials and errors, about which she is unsparing candid, she guided the Post through the Pentagon Papers, labor unrest and Watergate. All this at a time when women were almost automatically assumed to be incapable of leading a business.
Her story, written without resorting to a ghost-writer, is fascinating, harrowing and ultimately quite moving. It is also, incidentally, a good education on some of the major events of the Twentieth Century from an insider's perspective. Highly recommended!
January 13, 2018
I read this book when it first came out and it is still one of my favorites. Her honest telling of going from a life of privilege and wealth (when she went to college she had no idea how to do laundry - her sweaters always had magically appeared in her drawer!) to falling in love with the brilliant Phil (who she learned too late was mentally unstable) to hosting the powerful elite in DC to running her father’s company to facing down the White House (twice — the Pentagon Papers and Watergate). And she does it with grace and class as she struggles adn learns to find her own powerful voice. I was so in awe of her story that I wrote her a personal note. A month later, I received a hand written personal thank you note. I remain impressed to this day.
June 13, 2009
I'm so happy I read this book, and it tied in nicely after reading No Ordinary Time by Doris Kearns Goodwin.
Mrs. Graham was frightfully honest and this is one of the only times that I can say it was truly necessary to the book. I was turned off at first by her description of her grandmother being "the most beautiful woman anyone had ever seen" (or something like that...) because oh, please, hasn't everyone said that about their grandmother in her heyday? And if this is how is starts, where will it go? Are there any limits to the self-flattery? But when you read the rest of the book, you notice how honest she is about the worst moments in her life and you realize, if this is the absolute bottom of the barrell and she is describing it in rich detail to relive it and recreate it for the world to see...I think I might just believe her about her grandmother, she deserves at least that.
She grew up in very fortunate circumstances, as her father was the definition of success and he eventually purchased the heart of the book: the Washington Post. When it was her turn to run the Post, she did not get any easy breaks and faced her adversity with admirable strength and self-possession.
There is so much that happens in this book, that I would love to go on and on about it, but I wouldn't possibly ruin it for you. nope. But do put this one on your list, it is a wonderful family story of success, surviving and thriving, and the Washington DC atmosphere and intimacy with the white house is fascinating.
Mrs. Graham was frightfully honest and this is one of the only times that I can say it was truly necessary to the book. I was turned off at first by her description of her grandmother being "the most beautiful woman anyone had ever seen" (or something like that...) because oh, please, hasn't everyone said that about their grandmother in her heyday? And if this is how is starts, where will it go? Are there any limits to the self-flattery? But when you read the rest of the book, you notice how honest she is about the worst moments in her life and you realize, if this is the absolute bottom of the barrell and she is describing it in rich detail to relive it and recreate it for the world to see...I think I might just believe her about her grandmother, she deserves at least that.
She grew up in very fortunate circumstances, as her father was the definition of success and he eventually purchased the heart of the book: the Washington Post. When it was her turn to run the Post, she did not get any easy breaks and faced her adversity with admirable strength and self-possession.
There is so much that happens in this book, that I would love to go on and on about it, but I wouldn't possibly ruin it for you. nope. But do put this one on your list, it is a wonderful family story of success, surviving and thriving, and the Washington DC atmosphere and intimacy with the white house is fascinating.
December 3, 2021
Katherine Graham was a daughter of privilege whose father ran the Washington Post, whose husband succeeded her father and then she herself succeeded both of them and led the Post through the turbulent 1960's and 1970's which included the publication of the Pentagon Papers and the era of Watergate. This book not only examines her tenure at the Post but also her life in journalism and her marriage to Phillip Graham and his battle with mental illness.
I enjoyed this biography immensely, because not only was Graham's life in the twentieth century full of interesting events but her writing style was wonderful, the reader always felt at whatever time in Graham's life we were reading it was that moment, she was able to allude to future events coming later in the book without making it feel like an older person just telling stories.
The memoir is helped by the use of primary sources, lots of letters were saved in her family as well as her husband's. Graham's story became less interesting to me after her account of Watergate and yes there are lots of names dropped which can be tiring, but mainly this account of an interesting autobiography is a book I can highly recommend.
I enjoyed this biography immensely, because not only was Graham's life in the twentieth century full of interesting events but her writing style was wonderful, the reader always felt at whatever time in Graham's life we were reading it was that moment, she was able to allude to future events coming later in the book without making it feel like an older person just telling stories.
The memoir is helped by the use of primary sources, lots of letters were saved in her family as well as her husband's. Graham's story became less interesting to me after her account of Watergate and yes there are lots of names dropped which can be tiring, but mainly this account of an interesting autobiography is a book I can highly recommend.
February 20, 2008
Another book club book -- I wouldn't have picked it up to read it on my own, but I'm glad I read (most of) it. It was interesting as a social commentary, though there wasn't much personal emotion in it -- strange for an autobiography.
There was too much name-dropping and detail to make this an enjoyable read. It was also hard to sympathize with her at all when she talked about how hard it was to live with just a maid but not a cook, or how she had only one dress as a child (which she wore to every dinner at which her servants pulled out her chair for her).
There was too much name-dropping and detail to make this an enjoyable read. It was also hard to sympathize with her at all when she talked about how hard it was to live with just a maid but not a cook, or how she had only one dress as a child (which she wore to every dinner at which her servants pulled out her chair for her).
May 7, 2009
This book really held my interest from start to finish. Graham has great self-understanding and perspective on her life, and was very honest about her late husband's mental illness, the things that she both admired and resented about her parents, and her own insecurities as an untrained businesswoman in a world that was still completely dominated by men. As a woman in the business world, I completely identified with her. I especially loved the scene where she had to decide whether or not to print the Pentagon Papers. Half a dozen men were yammering their opinions in her ear, all at the same time, but SHE was the person who had to decide, and she did, going with her gut, in a decision that ultimately put the Washington Post in the same league with the NY Times for the first time. She admits that she was terrified and very unsure whether she had made the right decision at the time, which I find very comforting in my own insecure moments.
Second best part: where she basically boinks Adlai Stevenson to DEATH. Seriously. The guy spent the night with her and a few hours later died of a heart attack.
Second best part: where she basically boinks Adlai Stevenson to DEATH. Seriously. The guy spent the night with her and a few hours later died of a heart attack.
November 19, 2009
I loved this autobiography. I learned so much about the course of women's history in America by her tale of struggling to rise to her father's expectations, her relationship with her husband (who committed suicide), and her delicate handling of publisher of the Washington Post. Beautifully written.
March 22, 2017
A tremendously strong willed woman who stared down and won her battles with the men of her era as she ran one of the best papers in the world.
February 9, 2023
If you want to read an absolute gem of an autobiography, this is it. One of my favorite novels of all time. I revisit it every five years or so. The story behind KG's life and work with the Washington Post. Beautiful and utterly engaging for any reader. A stunner. A timeless stunner. I promise.
December 31, 2017
I feel bad giving this a low rating, especially since it's an important part of history. At least, it should be. Why I don't think this book is the go-to piece of literature on the Watergate scandal lies in my main complaint, so I'll jump to it.
The part about Watergate wasn't nearly as descriptive as her childhood, personal issues, or how much money her family had. The title of this book is very fitting...too fitting.
Instead of many pages devoted to her managerial style of the paper, and other challenges she faced in the business, the majority is focused on her parents' childhoods, her childhood, how much her family owned, including descriptions of all their properties, and the social life in Washington. I get it, background is important, but it overtakes anything related to Nixon's craziness.
A lot of her "personal history" is also devoted to her social awakening, which is great. But I wish that awakening was a little broader. When she was in her rich bitch school, there was a fundraiser for the poor called the "poverty party." Really?
When she first married Phill, and was supposedly living off their own income, not her family's (At least, she sets us up to believe they were being self-reliant.) they somehow managed to have a decorator for their home, and a nanny. Dear lord.
As for all the luxe porn, anyone who wants to write a historical romance novel set in high society should read this. Katharine Graham's family money actually reminded me of families in Danielle Steel's novels.
The part about Watergate wasn't nearly as descriptive as her childhood, personal issues, or how much money her family had. The title of this book is very fitting...too fitting.
Instead of many pages devoted to her managerial style of the paper, and other challenges she faced in the business, the majority is focused on her parents' childhoods, her childhood, how much her family owned, including descriptions of all their properties, and the social life in Washington. I get it, background is important, but it overtakes anything related to Nixon's craziness.
A lot of her "personal history" is also devoted to her social awakening, which is great. But I wish that awakening was a little broader. When she was in her rich bitch school, there was a fundraiser for the poor called the "poverty party." Really?
When she first married Phill, and was supposedly living off their own income, not her family's (At least, she sets us up to believe they were being self-reliant.) they somehow managed to have a decorator for their home, and a nanny. Dear lord.
As for all the luxe porn, anyone who wants to write a historical romance novel set in high society should read this. Katharine Graham's family money actually reminded me of families in Danielle Steel's novels.
January 13, 2016
This is interesting, especially the chapters concerning Katharine Graham having to take over running the Washington Post and the newspaper's role in publishing the Pentagon Papers and uncovering Watergate. I found the extended treatment of the unions' strike against the Post much less enthralling. Graham got to rub elbows with business titans, politicians, writers, entertainers and pop-culture phenoms, and her reflections provide a fascinating window on the times. But, she needs an editor. We don't need to see every year-end note she writes to Ben Bradlee or everyday letters to readers. Similarly, every foreign trip or interview with foreign leaders isn't newsworthy. She's an interesting woman who lived in interesting times, but her story isn't worth 625 pages.
November 15, 2016
I finished it by sheer determination. 630 pages of uninteresting writing. I am glad I read it because I feel enlightened about aspects of history of which I was previously knowledgeable. I'm also glad I read it so I know what NOT to do when I get around to writing my own memoir!
August 16, 2011
One of the best biographies (in this case, autobiographies) ever written. Seriously.
September 21, 2013
Truly one of my all time top five books ever read. LOVED the story, the life and the writing immensely.
January 5, 2022
The writing itself deserves much more than just one star, but a short time after digesting the book, I felt tricked. So I give it only one star for its dishonesty. It's not really an autobiography. This is a political book with a purpose. One can read it for what is hidden between the lines and try to solve those mysteries. I started the story in good faith, innocently trusting that I was going to be entertained with an intimate personal history. Katharine presents herself as an innocent widow struggling to perform as a newspaper publisher when her tremendously successful and brilliant husband dies suddenly in middle age. But Katharine is far too shrewd, powerful and sophisticated to pass for a vestal virgin.
At first I was taken in, and as I read on, I realized that I had no feeling of the personalities of anyone except Katharine's mother who was a Republican. Katharine definitely did not like her mother, but I don't understand exactly why, enough was not shared about their relationship. She talked about how she began writing articles for the newspaper for her father as a child, and she seems to have been his favorite pet of his children. Katharine's daughter and three sons remained anonymous and were barely mentioned. I had no idea of what kind of children they were except for a descriptive conclusory sentence here and there. I did not get much of a feeling about her relationship with her husband. Katharine came from one of the richest families in America and lived in palatial mansions. Her family was well embedded among the most wealthy, the most famous and the most powerful. There must have been many intimate, interesting friends and servants, but she only briefly talks about one woman that she relied on to care for the children. Katharine seems guarded and emotionless. As I read, I kept thinking she was not good at sharing her personal information. All of her childhood, her college, her wedding, her young married life, her marriage are disguised and impersonal. At this point, I was thinking she didn't really want to be writing her autobiography.
Then when she is about 45 years old, in 1962, she overhears on the telephone that her husband Phil is in an affair with a much younger reporter, Robin Wells. This was the most honest and alive part of the book. Finally, we get some human emotion. Phil seemed to me to be desperately in love with Robin and extremely eager for a divorce. He didn't seem to care about money, but Katharine was concerned about dividing the money and owning the paper. Katharine seemed to me hurt and vengeful, humiliated, resentful and determined not to lose the paper and her assets. I would not be surprised if her husband's 1963 suicide was a murder since the two of them were together when he supposedly suddenly shot himself with a 28 gauge shotgun, and he left no suicide note. Actually, I would be more surprised if it really was a suicide by shotgun. Katharine never tells about Phil's alcoholism until after his death, so it seems she would have mentioned it earlier in the book and it would have been publicly known if it was such a problem.
Another person who was barely mentioned was Warren Buffett who apparently stepped into her personal life after her husband died and became very involved behind the scenes in Katharine's life. He was younger than her and less wealthy back then. For a long period in the book, over many years, she mentions him just here and there peripherally. As I read on, I could feel that Katharine was not being truthful and was hiding a lot. She only says that Warren helped her to understand business better, but I just cannot believe that there was not much, much more to their relationship, both personally, financially and politically.
What was behind the Pentagon Papers? She must have had some goal behind that. Her husband, Phil, had helped LBJ get the Vice Presidency. She had been extremely close to LBJ, being helicoptered several times to stay with him at his ranch. Lots of secrets here. Then the Kennedy assassination and it seemed like there was some friction with LBJ and Katharine, but she doesn't tell us. This must be connected to the Pentagon Papers which would have related to LBJ, and might be why he decided not to run for a second term? Or were the Pentagon Papers a trial run in preparation for Watergate? Some kind of legal test of journalism and how far a paper can go? What are the limits to the power of the press? Plenty of political secrets that Katharine does not reveal or even hint at.
Immediately after winning the court case about freedom of the press involving the Pentagon Papers, Katharine moves on to Watergate, and wants us to think that Watergate was the spontaneous idea of her two new young reporters Woodward and Bernstein, and that she was just the unsuspecting boss on top watching it unfold. Was Warren Buffett involved? From what I see of politics, Watergate was planned to take down Nixon and there were lots of agencies and important figures involved. I think Katharine wrote this impersonal "Personal History" as a giant cover-up of many political events. Of the politics of power, it's always secrets and funerals.
This book received a Pulitzer Prize in 1998. Katharine's son Donald was on the Board of Directors of Pulitzer Prize in 2001, I wonder how this connects? If you want to read about newspapers and power and politics and secrets, this is your book. More is omitted than is told. If I were a writer, this story would inspire me to write a fictional novel about a powerful, secretive, wealthy woman who took down a President, murdered her husband with a shotgun, financed and secretly promoted her younger lover to become one of the richest men in America, and finally won a top prize for writing a personal history that told nothing of the most important parts of her personal history.
At first I was taken in, and as I read on, I realized that I had no feeling of the personalities of anyone except Katharine's mother who was a Republican. Katharine definitely did not like her mother, but I don't understand exactly why, enough was not shared about their relationship. She talked about how she began writing articles for the newspaper for her father as a child, and she seems to have been his favorite pet of his children. Katharine's daughter and three sons remained anonymous and were barely mentioned. I had no idea of what kind of children they were except for a descriptive conclusory sentence here and there. I did not get much of a feeling about her relationship with her husband. Katharine came from one of the richest families in America and lived in palatial mansions. Her family was well embedded among the most wealthy, the most famous and the most powerful. There must have been many intimate, interesting friends and servants, but she only briefly talks about one woman that she relied on to care for the children. Katharine seems guarded and emotionless. As I read, I kept thinking she was not good at sharing her personal information. All of her childhood, her college, her wedding, her young married life, her marriage are disguised and impersonal. At this point, I was thinking she didn't really want to be writing her autobiography.
Then when she is about 45 years old, in 1962, she overhears on the telephone that her husband Phil is in an affair with a much younger reporter, Robin Wells. This was the most honest and alive part of the book. Finally, we get some human emotion. Phil seemed to me to be desperately in love with Robin and extremely eager for a divorce. He didn't seem to care about money, but Katharine was concerned about dividing the money and owning the paper. Katharine seemed to me hurt and vengeful, humiliated, resentful and determined not to lose the paper and her assets. I would not be surprised if her husband's 1963 suicide was a murder since the two of them were together when he supposedly suddenly shot himself with a 28 gauge shotgun, and he left no suicide note. Actually, I would be more surprised if it really was a suicide by shotgun. Katharine never tells about Phil's alcoholism until after his death, so it seems she would have mentioned it earlier in the book and it would have been publicly known if it was such a problem.
Another person who was barely mentioned was Warren Buffett who apparently stepped into her personal life after her husband died and became very involved behind the scenes in Katharine's life. He was younger than her and less wealthy back then. For a long period in the book, over many years, she mentions him just here and there peripherally. As I read on, I could feel that Katharine was not being truthful and was hiding a lot. She only says that Warren helped her to understand business better, but I just cannot believe that there was not much, much more to their relationship, both personally, financially and politically.
What was behind the Pentagon Papers? She must have had some goal behind that. Her husband, Phil, had helped LBJ get the Vice Presidency. She had been extremely close to LBJ, being helicoptered several times to stay with him at his ranch. Lots of secrets here. Then the Kennedy assassination and it seemed like there was some friction with LBJ and Katharine, but she doesn't tell us. This must be connected to the Pentagon Papers which would have related to LBJ, and might be why he decided not to run for a second term? Or were the Pentagon Papers a trial run in preparation for Watergate? Some kind of legal test of journalism and how far a paper can go? What are the limits to the power of the press? Plenty of political secrets that Katharine does not reveal or even hint at.
Immediately after winning the court case about freedom of the press involving the Pentagon Papers, Katharine moves on to Watergate, and wants us to think that Watergate was the spontaneous idea of her two new young reporters Woodward and Bernstein, and that she was just the unsuspecting boss on top watching it unfold. Was Warren Buffett involved? From what I see of politics, Watergate was planned to take down Nixon and there were lots of agencies and important figures involved. I think Katharine wrote this impersonal "Personal History" as a giant cover-up of many political events. Of the politics of power, it's always secrets and funerals.
This book received a Pulitzer Prize in 1998. Katharine's son Donald was on the Board of Directors of Pulitzer Prize in 2001, I wonder how this connects? If you want to read about newspapers and power and politics and secrets, this is your book. More is omitted than is told. If I were a writer, this story would inspire me to write a fictional novel about a powerful, secretive, wealthy woman who took down a President, murdered her husband with a shotgun, financed and secretly promoted her younger lover to become one of the richest men in America, and finally won a top prize for writing a personal history that told nothing of the most important parts of her personal history.
February 14, 2018
What an impressive, yet beleaguered, lady! That is the impression that I came away with after reading Katharine Graham's autobiography. This is someone who had to pick up the broken pieces after her husband committed suicide. This is someone who, despite being wealthy, had to prove herself in a male-dominated industry at a time when females were seldom if ever heads of corporations. She not only proved herself; she did a superb job of running a major national newspaper and became one of the country's most successful publishers. No small task for anyone, especially someone who was never groomed to be in charge of anything beyond her children.
Despite growing up wealthy, Graham did not seem to enjoy her childhood. Her parents were remote and, in the case of her mother, self-absorbed. Indeed, writing in the late 1990s, it is evident that Graham still harbored much resentment towards her mother even at that remote distance from her early life. Clearly, they did not get along. And just as clearly, this is something that Graham carried with her all of her life. She paints a portrait of a selfish alcoholic who viewed her children as burdens she had to deal with – whenever she was moved to think about them. At times, one wonders whether airing her grievances about her mother was one of the reasons that Graham chose to write this book; a kind of catharsis of sorts perhaps.
Her relationship with her father, Eugene Meyer, was much better, but it lacked warmth. Her father treated her as an adult and respected her intelligence, yet could not really bring himself to show her any emotions. You almost have to cringe when she writes about her father offering to turn over the Washington Post Company to Graham's husband, Phil, partially because Phil was extremely intelligent and her Meyer liked him, but also because – and Meyer told Graham this – running a company was not a job for a woman to do. Tragically, Graham ultimately proved all of the men wrong about that, but she suffered a great deal in the process.
This book is interesting to read for a variety of reasons, one of which is Graham's almost total vulnerability in opening herself up to be second-guessed and criticized for things that she did or did not do throughout her life. Few people are nearly as candid as she is in describing their lives. For example, she shares blame in not acting to try to understand her husband's mental illness. Also, she admits that she was not really a strong person – allowing her parents, older siblings, and then Phil to dominate her life and tell her what to do and when. That had to have been painful to relive in her mind, let alone put down on paper for the world to read.
Another reason this is such a good read is that Graham knew so many different (famous) people throughout her life: Presidents, Ambassadors, Supreme Court Justices, Cabinet Secretaries, newspaper columnists, financiers, and more. She was around for some pivotal moments in 20th century American history and does a good job in conveying what she was thinking and feeling decades ago. Unfortunately, there is always a dark cloud hovering over her life thanks to first her parents, then her husband, then Lyndon Johnson, and later Richard Nixon, not to mention all of the doubters who did not believe that she could run a major newspaper.
Just past the halfway mark of the book (1963 in Graham's life), Phil commits suicide. Graham is the one who hears the gunshot and finds him. How she managed to carry on after that, especially when one considers that she had to then assume the burden of running The Washington Post Company, which – as mentioned above – she was never groomed for nor expected to do, is truly hard to comprehend. Graham admits that she did not cope with it well, at least initially, as she took off halfway across the world to join her mother on vacation, leaving her children behind. As she does so often throughout the book, she harshly criticizes herself for doing things that she later looks back on with deep regret. That is also how she treats Phil's mental disintegration and suicide – saying that she should have put the clues together and recognized much sooner that he had a serious problem, and that she should have taken more control of things and not allowed herself and others to be manipulated by Phil.
While Graham is quite candid about her life, part of me wonders what – if anything – she chose to leave out. The thought occurred to me that because Phil was verbally abusive to Kay, was he also physically abusive? Could that have been one thing even too horrible for Graham to admit had happened? I am not saying that it did – I simply mention it as something that I wondered about. A person can be remarkably candid about things without revealing everything.
Even though the Pentagon Papers drama and Watergate were still in the future, the last half of the book seems somewhat anticlimactic. This is not a criticism: Graham is writing about her life. Few of us have enough interesting things occur to us to be able to write a 600+ page memoir about them, so one cannot realistically expect her entire life to be consistently fascinating. It is more that the second half becomes much more oriented around the Washington Post and Graham's baby steps in learning how to be an effective publisher. The segment on Watergate was interesting, but not revelatory. Following that, Graham turns to labor issues at the paper and her friendship with Warren Buffet. While not uninteresting, after all of the things that came before this period, it is certainly slower-paced and less enthralling to read about. She details the strikes that plagued the Post during the mid-1970s. Around this point the book, while still personal, takes on much more of a business inclination than it previously had. This lasts for most of the remainder of the book, with the exception of the last chapter, where Graham writes about growing older and find new ways to enjoy her life as she steps away from work.
Anyone interested in media history, 20th century American history, or just wanting to read a very good book about someone who continually faced and overcame challenges while leading an eventful life, will find this to be worthwhile reading.
Grade: A-
Despite growing up wealthy, Graham did not seem to enjoy her childhood. Her parents were remote and, in the case of her mother, self-absorbed. Indeed, writing in the late 1990s, it is evident that Graham still harbored much resentment towards her mother even at that remote distance from her early life. Clearly, they did not get along. And just as clearly, this is something that Graham carried with her all of her life. She paints a portrait of a selfish alcoholic who viewed her children as burdens she had to deal with – whenever she was moved to think about them. At times, one wonders whether airing her grievances about her mother was one of the reasons that Graham chose to write this book; a kind of catharsis of sorts perhaps.
Her relationship with her father, Eugene Meyer, was much better, but it lacked warmth. Her father treated her as an adult and respected her intelligence, yet could not really bring himself to show her any emotions. You almost have to cringe when she writes about her father offering to turn over the Washington Post Company to Graham's husband, Phil, partially because Phil was extremely intelligent and her Meyer liked him, but also because – and Meyer told Graham this – running a company was not a job for a woman to do. Tragically, Graham ultimately proved all of the men wrong about that, but she suffered a great deal in the process.
This book is interesting to read for a variety of reasons, one of which is Graham's almost total vulnerability in opening herself up to be second-guessed and criticized for things that she did or did not do throughout her life. Few people are nearly as candid as she is in describing their lives. For example, she shares blame in not acting to try to understand her husband's mental illness. Also, she admits that she was not really a strong person – allowing her parents, older siblings, and then Phil to dominate her life and tell her what to do and when. That had to have been painful to relive in her mind, let alone put down on paper for the world to read.
Another reason this is such a good read is that Graham knew so many different (famous) people throughout her life: Presidents, Ambassadors, Supreme Court Justices, Cabinet Secretaries, newspaper columnists, financiers, and more. She was around for some pivotal moments in 20th century American history and does a good job in conveying what she was thinking and feeling decades ago. Unfortunately, there is always a dark cloud hovering over her life thanks to first her parents, then her husband, then Lyndon Johnson, and later Richard Nixon, not to mention all of the doubters who did not believe that she could run a major newspaper.
Just past the halfway mark of the book (1963 in Graham's life), Phil commits suicide. Graham is the one who hears the gunshot and finds him. How she managed to carry on after that, especially when one considers that she had to then assume the burden of running The Washington Post Company, which – as mentioned above – she was never groomed for nor expected to do, is truly hard to comprehend. Graham admits that she did not cope with it well, at least initially, as she took off halfway across the world to join her mother on vacation, leaving her children behind. As she does so often throughout the book, she harshly criticizes herself for doing things that she later looks back on with deep regret. That is also how she treats Phil's mental disintegration and suicide – saying that she should have put the clues together and recognized much sooner that he had a serious problem, and that she should have taken more control of things and not allowed herself and others to be manipulated by Phil.
While Graham is quite candid about her life, part of me wonders what – if anything – she chose to leave out. The thought occurred to me that because Phil was verbally abusive to Kay, was he also physically abusive? Could that have been one thing even too horrible for Graham to admit had happened? I am not saying that it did – I simply mention it as something that I wondered about. A person can be remarkably candid about things without revealing everything.
Even though the Pentagon Papers drama and Watergate were still in the future, the last half of the book seems somewhat anticlimactic. This is not a criticism: Graham is writing about her life. Few of us have enough interesting things occur to us to be able to write a 600+ page memoir about them, so one cannot realistically expect her entire life to be consistently fascinating. It is more that the second half becomes much more oriented around the Washington Post and Graham's baby steps in learning how to be an effective publisher. The segment on Watergate was interesting, but not revelatory. Following that, Graham turns to labor issues at the paper and her friendship with Warren Buffet. While not uninteresting, after all of the things that came before this period, it is certainly slower-paced and less enthralling to read about. She details the strikes that plagued the Post during the mid-1970s. Around this point the book, while still personal, takes on much more of a business inclination than it previously had. This lasts for most of the remainder of the book, with the exception of the last chapter, where Graham writes about growing older and find new ways to enjoy her life as she steps away from work.
Anyone interested in media history, 20th century American history, or just wanting to read a very good book about someone who continually faced and overcame challenges while leading an eventful life, will find this to be worthwhile reading.
Grade: A-
February 9, 2015
It seems obvious now, that the memoirs of the publisher of a newspaper based in Washington would be centred around politics, but it hadn't occurred to me that it would be quite so focussed on that. And not just politics, but presidential politics and the author's personal relationships with them. I was hoping the book would be more about the running of a newspaper, interesting stories, people and events the paper would have covered but in retrospect this book and Katharine Graham's personal experience was never going to be about that. It was more about who she knew, who came to dinner and who were her friends. She lived in a rarified atmosphere that most of us could never aspire to and I just couldn't relate. As a result, this book wasn't that interesting to me. As an aside, at one time she was the publisher, CEO and chairman of the Washington Post, but at no time were the responsibilities of and distinctions between these roles ever really expanded on, so what she actually did was a bit of a mystery. It makes me wonder if she hadn't been heir to the paper whether someone with her education, experience and business nous (or lack thereof) would have been given a second glance in relation to running it. By her own admission, she knew nothing about personnel management, corporate finances and, even when she gave a speech on Watergate, she was worried about subsequent questions on it as she didn't know the detail. I think I know the answer to that. During the strike, she showed, at times, a lack of empathy with workers. Firstly by intimating they had the temerity to ask for four weeks holiday, when she shared, without a hint of irony, she spent all of August at her house at Martha's Vineyard. Then she made reference to how tedious the jobs were that she and other management took on during the strike. Well, these were the jobs of the strikers, the workers that helped her add to her inherited millions. I thought her comments demeaning to her workforce. Two last observations - I don't know whether we were supposed to feel sorry for her with her relationship with her parents. So her father was stand-of fish and did not convey feelings easily. I think that would sum up 99% of men of that era. And her mother was not exactly hands-on. This contributed to her lack of self-confidence and feelings on inferiority. So, why, in that case, did she seemingly go on to do exactly the same to her children. When she took over at The Post she had two children still at home and yet there was absolutely no mention of them while she was travelling around the country and the world and hosting and attending dinner parties. Last observation - did she not realise that Warren Buffett was married?! I think I would rather read a book on a self-made person, not an heiress.
March 6, 2018
OK, this book had been on my shelves for > 20 years and i'm glad i finally got around to it. When she says "Personal History," Kay Graham apparently meant all of it, tho she's from a generation that apparently only hints at the most personal (apparent liaisons with Adlai Stephenson, Warren Buffett and others. Sometimes this book drags a bit.
But it's important to get the perspective of a woman who grew up in great privilege, well-educated yet believing that her role is one of helpmate to her husband and mother to her children, rather than as the rightful successor at her father's business. When her husband, who's been running the company, kills himself in 1963, she does take the helm of the Washington Post Co.
She's clearly from a generation of women who don't exactly get how to react to, say, the uprising and lawsuit by the women at Newsweek who were banned from becoming reporters. But she also blazes a trail as the "first" in so many ways with her leadership, experiencing much that still exists – criticism that highlights her gender, imposter syndrome, belittling by even those men working for her.
This book also offers a great history lesson of our country. Graham and her family hobnobbed with presidents, and she befriended a range of powerful people.
But it's important to get the perspective of a woman who grew up in great privilege, well-educated yet believing that her role is one of helpmate to her husband and mother to her children, rather than as the rightful successor at her father's business. When her husband, who's been running the company, kills himself in 1963, she does take the helm of the Washington Post Co.
She's clearly from a generation of women who don't exactly get how to react to, say, the uprising and lawsuit by the women at Newsweek who were banned from becoming reporters. But she also blazes a trail as the "first" in so many ways with her leadership, experiencing much that still exists – criticism that highlights her gender, imposter syndrome, belittling by even those men working for her.
This book also offers a great history lesson of our country. Graham and her family hobnobbed with presidents, and she befriended a range of powerful people.
April 10, 2017
This is a re-read for me and I enjoyed it much more this time around. I think just because I have more life under my belt than when I read it when it was released. I enjoyed Graham's discussions of being a woman in a mans world at a time when there were no women in any powerful business positions. I also found her discussions of how the press had to learn to cover McCarthy and Nixon fascinating in light of trying to cope with and cover Trump. For a thick and meaty bio this was very readable.
December 7, 2022
Me ha gustado mucho esta biografia de la editora y dueña de el Washington Post, donde vemos un periodismo de otra época y ética, la segunda parte del libro que es la que corresponde a la etapa de los casos de los Papeles del Pentágono y el Watergate es evidentemente la mas interesante, pero también me ha gustado su primera etapa de juventud; además está narrada de una forma muy directa y sin pretenciosidad
May 14, 2018
Perhaps because I live in Washington or perhaps because there are a lot of parallels between this administration's relationship with the press and previous administration's relationship with the press, but this book truly stood the test of time for me.
While I winced at Graham's attitude towards feminism and the role of women in the workplace, I found her concise delivery and her ability to capture the events and the emotions of the times that her autobiography covers remarkable. Do I think Katharine Graham and I would be best friends IRL if she were alive today? Not likely. But the book was fascinating and I would recommend it to anyone. 4.5 stars.
While I winced at Graham's attitude towards feminism and the role of women in the workplace, I found her concise delivery and her ability to capture the events and the emotions of the times that her autobiography covers remarkable. Do I think Katharine Graham and I would be best friends IRL if she were alive today? Not likely. But the book was fascinating and I would recommend it to anyone. 4.5 stars.
March 4, 2024
By the middle of the book it was about to land on the DNF pile. But I really wanted to know how she handled the second part of her life… the death of her husband and Watergate, so I persevered.
I believe this book could have been a lot shorter. Even thought she lived a long and glamorous life it didn’t necessarily mean that we were interested in every little aspect, especially constantly naming every person that she ever knew.
I was interested in her family as she grew up and even into a few years of her marriage, but at one point it became too much. Especially the parts where the poor little rich girl whined. So, as I mentioned before had I not wanted to know about the second chapter of her life I would have walked away. I am glad I didn’t because it became 100% more interesting.
It’s worth the read… but no one would blame you if you skipped all the names and the middle part of her life.
I believe this book could have been a lot shorter. Even thought she lived a long and glamorous life it didn’t necessarily mean that we were interested in every little aspect, especially constantly naming every person that she ever knew.
I was interested in her family as she grew up and even into a few years of her marriage, but at one point it became too much. Especially the parts where the poor little rich girl whined. So, as I mentioned before had I not wanted to know about the second chapter of her life I would have walked away. I am glad I didn’t because it became 100% more interesting.
It’s worth the read… but no one would blame you if you skipped all the names and the middle part of her life.
January 24, 2018
This book pretty much slayed me...so many angles. I got turned on to the book as a result of seeing the movie The Post, which somehow led me to the website for Graham Holding Company which has a history tab that included many things I never new, which led me to quote from Warren Buffett where he said Personal History is the best autobiography he ever read. BTW - pretty much the entire movie The Post came out of Chapter 22 of this book, a book with 28 chapters. This is a long book, and took me quite a while to read, but I couldn't put it down. Several things captivated me:
First is what came across, throughout the book, as grounded, candid and fully transparent, especially sharing her own inadequacies and insecurities, and how she managed to grow in spite of what seemed debilitating for much of her life.
Second is the very interesting lineage of her grandparents and parents, particularly relevant for someone that lives in the Bay Area.
Third, understanding more deeply her marriage to Phil Graham and the tragedy of his not benefiting from a real understanding of how to treat his manic depression.
Fourth, her amazing relationships with many politicians, presidents, socialites, Truman Capote, Joseph and Stewart Alsop, her relationships with Ben Bradlee, Meg Greenfield, Bob Woodward, Carl Bernstein, but most interestingly to me the quite remarkable history with Warren Buffett who invested in the Washington Post Company early on as he saw s well run company that, at the time, was severely undervalued. He became a personal and financial mentor to Katherine and became a critically important member of the board.
Fifth, there is something amazing in the way she describes live during the Nixon years, as pulling at the fabric of our country with no certainty that the country could survive. In the midst of our current situation, there is something enobling to know that we've been here before, and one wonders if the kind of intense reporting that was Watergate can be repeated. I forgot this but there was a period when all the Watergate leads went dry and it wasn't at all clear what would happen. She describes some combination of continued dedicated hard work, doing the right thing, and plain luck, that allowed the country to get back on track.
There's more. Just read it.
First is what came across, throughout the book, as grounded, candid and fully transparent, especially sharing her own inadequacies and insecurities, and how she managed to grow in spite of what seemed debilitating for much of her life.
Second is the very interesting lineage of her grandparents and parents, particularly relevant for someone that lives in the Bay Area.
Third, understanding more deeply her marriage to Phil Graham and the tragedy of his not benefiting from a real understanding of how to treat his manic depression.
Fourth, her amazing relationships with many politicians, presidents, socialites, Truman Capote, Joseph and Stewart Alsop, her relationships with Ben Bradlee, Meg Greenfield, Bob Woodward, Carl Bernstein, but most interestingly to me the quite remarkable history with Warren Buffett who invested in the Washington Post Company early on as he saw s well run company that, at the time, was severely undervalued. He became a personal and financial mentor to Katherine and became a critically important member of the board.
Fifth, there is something amazing in the way she describes live during the Nixon years, as pulling at the fabric of our country with no certainty that the country could survive. In the midst of our current situation, there is something enobling to know that we've been here before, and one wonders if the kind of intense reporting that was Watergate can be repeated. I forgot this but there was a period when all the Watergate leads went dry and it wasn't at all clear what would happen. She describes some combination of continued dedicated hard work, doing the right thing, and plain luck, that allowed the country to get back on track.
There's more. Just read it.
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