Customer Reviews

Power, Privilege and the Post: The Katharine Graham Story

5 star:		(2)
4 star:		(1)
3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

Ever since I read Halberstam's the Powers that Be, I wanted to read more in depth about Kay Graham. She is a fascintaing character: taking over the Post after the suicide of her manic depressive husband, she was the one to bring it to greatness. Not only did she overcame fear and terrible personal insecurity, but with Watergate and the Pentagon Papers she earned a place in history. That is not bad for an heiress that everyone dismissed as a figurehead when she took over.

Unfortunately, Felsenthal brings few new revelations to her well researched and long book. The facts are there, as is much of recent US history, and this is extremely well covered. Instead, what she adds is more on the level of back-biting gossip, such as the tales of her dysfunctional children, her fickleness at the office, or her insensitive quips about money ("you mean you have to live on your salary?" she is quoted as snottily and incredulously asking a reporter.) At times, the book has the flavor of personal pique: you can tell that the author doesn't like her subject or resents as her undeserving.

Felsenthal even seems bent on undoing the reputation of her star editor, Ben Bradley, whom she portrays as a capable courtier manipulator of Graham. While this perspective is useful, it appeared biased to me, too consciously against the grain of popular (admittedly perhaps mythic) image. Essentially, she portrays Graham as a twit who will do whatever the last person with whom she spoke advised, hence Bradley knew to be "the last person" to speak to her. I do not doubt that there is much truth to this, but Graham also did come down on the right side when she made the big decisions. Is her entire image romantic PR puffery? The author seems bent on convincing the reader that this was so.

However, if you don't know the story of Kay Graham, this is a solid introduction. Recommended with reservation.

I've read every book I could find about Katharine Graham and the Washington Post -- and if you're only going to read one, this is it. Complex business dealings are explained clearly, people are approached evenhandedly, and scandals (public and private) are discussed without either shirking or sensationalism (and with a lot of citations.) The book focuses on the personalities of these fascinating people, making for a riveting story.

Biographer Carol Felsenthal turned her fine talents ro Katherine Graham and produced a top-notch bio, one which the reader can easily understand, and feel for, the housewife-turned-Fortune 500 businesswoman. What sticks in my mind is how Graham's distant mother finally decided to talk to her daughter about menstruation, to which Kay replied, "I started that last year."
Rich detail such as this makes it easy to see why Readers Digest condensed the book, and opens up a controversy over just how much of Felsenthal's research was co-opted by Graham herself to write, or have ghostwritten, her "Personal History." Felsenthal's objectivity adds to Graham's life story in a way only a detached biographer can. If one wants a map of how a shy woman can succeede in the business world, one can do no better than to read Felsenthal's illuminating text.

This is an excellent book about Katherine Graham, former owner and publisher of The Washington Post. Katherine is initially, for all intents and purposes, ignored by her family throughout her youth. Little attention is bestowed upon her as her father, Eugene Meyer, runs The Washington Post and her mother, Agnes Meyer, socializes with every powerful individual she possibly can. Katherine perseveres through these harsh circumstances only to have her husband, Phil Graham, blow his brains out in the bathroom of one of their homes during a respite from an insane asylum. Katherine takes control of the newspaper (and company behind it), makes it the most influential paper in the nation, and becomes the most powerful woman in the world in the process. I recommend this book for any individual seeking a source of inspiration. This book should, and will hopefully, inspire many downtrodden people the world over for years to come.