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Summary: Wow, what a life...
Review: Katharine Graham's autobiography reveals much, including the difficult and tragic end of her marriage, her courage as a woman in a man's world to run the Washington Post, and all the nitty-gritty insider politics of her era.
Worthwhile and fun. And revealing!
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Summary: Not that interesting
Review: I respect what Ms Graham achieved in her life, but she really could have told it in less than 600 pages. The book includes many minor details about unimportant events. Her repetitive declarations about the paper's impartiality get annoying pretty quickly.If you want to read about an important, powerful woman, go read Margaret Thatcher's Downing Street Years.
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Summary: Papa, Phil and Post - A Real Title
Review: Katherine took this venue to mention every person she ever met for fear they read the book and didn't see their name. It made me laugh. I felt like I was reading a loose version of a history book and not really about a woman, mother, wife.
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Summary: Can you imagine JFK coming to dinner?
Review: This is a story about a life of a rich and privileged lady. It's a kind of life that few can relate to. Not only Ms. Graham routinely got invited to the White House functions but also the incumbent presidents of not your company but the United States of America dropped by every now and then for dinner at her mansion. Can you imagine JFK and Jacquie sitting at your dining table at home? The memoir takes readers through how she endured and fought against life threatening pressure from the Nixon administration to sustain her media's freedom to report during the days of Pentagon Papers and Watergate. Without her "state of the art" support as publisher, as The Washington Post's former executive editor Ben Bradlee put it, Carl Bernstein and Bob Woodward would not have been able to continue their state of the art investigative reporting. She sure surrounded herself with a lot of powerful and experienced friends whom she constantly sought advice to get over all those challenges she faced. Nontheless, considering her upbringing, I still don't understand exactly what made her so strong as a person. To me, the book started out boring with her rich and privileged childhood, followed by her harsh and broken marriage, then the real reading pleasure and excitement started when and after she took over The Washington Post. I found her description on some of the heavy weights, such as Peter G. Peterson, Commerce Secretary under Nixon Administration, and Henry Kissinger, unique and interesting. But what surprised me most was how much (a lot) she set aside to describe her relationship, though nothing romantic, with a billionaire investor Warren Buffet. I learned so much about the second richest man in America as a person in her memoir. In many ways, this memoir is complete with Ben Bradlee's "A Good Life" which is more concise and better edited.
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Summary: Inspiring and gripping
Review: Katharine Graham did not presume she was the end all in this book, she took a humbel approach in telling her life's tale. There were boring, and sometimes Exaggerated parts. I especially found the women's movement chapter unintersting to me, on the other hand I could not let the book nor my emotional outburts down when she wrote about the pressmen's strike. Over all this is an excellent book, I wish I had read earlier (i.e. in her life time).
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Summary: What a disappointment!
Review: What a disappointment this book was to me. I would have thought that someone with such an interesting life would have been able to write a more interesting book about it. I would have thought that a professional journalist would have been able to write a "personal history" with less whining.
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Summary: Worthy of its Pulitzer
Review: Katherine Graham's "Personal History" combines all of the necessary elements of biography to create an immensely entertaining and sometimes touching portrait of a fascinating woman. Her life was interesting enough that it would make a good story for even a mediocre author; but clearly Graham did not become the head of the Washington Post without learning the essence of a well turned phrase. Her witty and intelligent prose complements her captivating story and creates an autobiography worthy of its Pulitzer Prize. I found Graham's story intriguing on three levels, the first of which is (as the title states) personal. Much of the first half of the book focuses on her family life, growing up in the extremely wealthy Meyer household, her relations with her parents, and eventually her meeting and marrying Phil Graham. All of the central characters are interesting, but I was personally struck by her discussion of her mother, Agnes Meyer, a woman both brilliant and driven, yet emotionally aloof from her family. Graham's candor respecting her mother is impressive. She admits at one point: "I can't say I think Mother genuinely loved us" (p. 51) and remembers that in turn her younger sister loved their governess more than Mrs. Meyer (p. 34). But Graham does not unfairly oversimplify her mother; she faithfully describes the true complexity of their relationship, admitting that resentment and love co-existed (p. 439). Graham does justice to everyone in her narrative and there simply isn't space enough here to describe fully all of the crucial characters. The second level of interest (which dominates the latter half of the book) is the story of the Washington Post and the newspaper industry in general. Graham covers the major milestones of Post from her father's acquisition in 1933 to its current management by her son, Don. Graham herself was publisher during the most important years for the Post and describes three main events: the Pentagon Papers, Watergate, and the Pressmen's Strike in 1975. All three episodes are of interest, but I actually was most absorbed by the last. Graham clearly evokes the tension felt on all sides, and the great efforts made by those dedicated to continued publication who practically lived in the Post building. I was amazed to read that before they had repaired their own presses (smashed by the striking workers) they hired helicoptors to fly pages of type out to other publishers (p. 544). Watergate was also interesting. :) The third captivating aspect of this book is its ability to connect the reader to the great figures of the 20th century through its empathetic protagonist. Katherine Graham knew seemingly every prominent individual and makes them seem more human than do textbooks or newsreel footage. When she was 11, she travelled to Europe where she met Albert Einstein: "He was simply grand! His hair is positively a nest..." (p. 41). She had dinners with John and Bobby Kennedy and her husband was partially responsible for LBJ's vice-presidency. In 1966 Truman Capote held a lavish and exclusive party at which Graham was the guest of honor. She clearly has respect for these celebrities and political leaders, but she also portrays them as what they were: human and fallible. I find this insider's perspective adds a great deal of flavor to history. Do note that this is a sizable read, weighing in slightly over 600 pages. But as I hope this review conveyed, I found nearly all of those pages quite enjoyable. "Personal History" combines a fascinating life, excellent writing, and (most importantly) Graham's unflinching self-scrutiny. Sure to keep you reading!
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Summary: Not your typical coming-of-age story
Review: A treasure for people who make a hobby out of media stories, as I do, _Personal History_ is as much about the Post as it is about Graham herself. But as I think Graham is saying in the book, everything personal in her life was somehow linked to the paper-- either through her own efforts at its helm or as the wife and daughter of the men who were leading it. I've read a lot of the criticism of this book-- and I know enough about media history to know that at least some of it is fair. At least in the sense that it's accurate. Graham doesn't come out wearing a hair shirt about the real media relationship to people in power. She also has a slightly nervous tone-- the sound of someone who isn't very sure her accomplishments are going to be achieved. But in the end I found that even valid criticisms didn't really interfere with my reading of the book. In the end I was moved by it, and felt honored that Graham was so willing to put herself out there to be observed and judged. In some respects it's difficult to argue that Graham had a difficult life-- she was born to such enormous privilege that she had resources to deal with tragedy that most people can never command. (You hear her refer to her family's 'summer home', but what the means remains opaque until you see the picture!). Even still, Graham is human. To be constantly in the shadow of the people in your life, to see yourself as helpmeet and not a full person, to emerge from that shadow and assert that you have a place in your own right-- that's certainly something that speaks to everyone, regardless of who they are. What I find extraordinary is how revealing the book is about her insecurities. This is a very personal autobiography, and Graham lets you see her weaknesses in a way that I think most public figures would not allow. I don't agree with many of the positions Graham takes, and certainly she and I are light years apart in almost every aspect of background and experience, but I felt lucky that I was able to read this book. And I was also glad that she wrote it. A book to read, and to give away as a gift.
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Summary: Am amazing story ...
Review: This was a long book, but I wasn't bored at all. I admire the honesty that Katherine Graham provides in this book. More honesty than I, as a private citizen, can imagine divulging in such a book, even though there is likely more detail that she didn't divulge. It's enlightening to see that the rich are not really that much different than the rest of us. They have their own lives, no matter how screwed up, and in some cases her's was, but their wealth allows them to magnify what they can accomplish. From a business perspective, sinking so much money in The Washington Post early on must have seemed like a suicidial adventure. Having enough to live on, yet endure business strife, is an example of how wealth magnifies every-day and every-man tendencies. We do not wish to fail. No matter what. Although many may argue that The Washington Post has a liberal leaning, I disagree. They print what they feel is important even when nobody else agrees. This is the significance to the Meyer family and, later, to the Graham family. They are human, with their own innate failings, but ultimately do right. What a life Katherine Graham had to endure! Both comfortable and complex. Anyone would do well to read this autobiography. It's an invaluable insight into an important family and an important business to America. From profitability to the First Admendment, it's ultimately an American experience nowhere else available in the world. Katherine Graham is an amazing woman. To grow up in such an atmosphere as to not know so many routine details of ordinary life, yet understand so many things that are not part of ordinary life. You will be pleased by the book. Read it!
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Summary: An editor's nightmare
Review: Katharine Graham would have been well served by an editor willing to cut 300+ pages from this wordy autobiography. It has a disconcertingly whiny tone throughout, from Graham's airing her deeply-held resentments toward her mother (at age 70!) to her husband's mistreatment of her, although she admits to have been something of a doormat during the marriage. Most disturbing, however, is Graham's gradual revelation of her lack of involvement in the Post's editorial or business success--all while wringing her hands over her lack of business savvy. And this won the Pulitzer Prize?
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