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Deborah Davis

Katharine the Great : Katharine Graham and Her Washington Post Empire Paperback – January 1, 1991

by Deborah Davis (Author)

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THE BOOK THEY TRIED TO SUPPRESS ...

When the first edition of Katharine the Great was published, Katharine Graham had it pulled from the bookstores and pulped. But Deborah Davis sued the publishers for censoring her book, and won. Now this new, updated edition goes beyond Watergate all the way through Contragate, and shows how the Washington Post has changed during the Reagan-Bush years.

Although Katharine Graham is surely one of the most powerful women in the world, few people are aware of the extent of her influence. World leaders meet with her; presidents meet with her; anyone moving up in the circles of power in the nation's capital tries to meet with the owner of the Washington Post - Newsweek communications conglomerate.

Katharine the Great is the story of a woman born into wealth and power. Her husband, the brilliant, mercurial Philip Graham, became the publisher of her father's paper, the Post, while she settled down to home life. But by the 1950s Philip Graham was battling manic depression, and in 1963 he committed suicide.

Middle-aged and inexperienced, Katharine Graham took over the newspaper. Together with Ben Bradlee she made the Post successful and powerful, publishing the Pentagon Papers and pursuing the Watergate investigation that led to Richard Nixon's resignation. After Watergate, the Post- and Kay Graham - became an institution, a fourth branch of government.

Print length

400 pages
Language

English
Publisher

Inst for Media Analysis
Publication date

January 1, 1991
Dimensions

6 x 1 x 9 inches
ISBN-10

0941781135
ISBN-13

978-0941781138
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Editorial Reviews

From the Publisher

Katharine the Great ... is about journalism, politics and presidents, the CIA and celebrities. never dull ... this book deserves attention. - New York Newsday

Worth reading ... Davis's theories about ties between the Post and government merit publication and discussion. - The Nation

About the Author

Deborah Davis is a journalist whose principal interest is the analysis of political power. After earning her degree in political science at the University of California at Berkeley in 1971, she was a regular contributor to the Village Voice, where her reports on city and state politics earned her a reputation as a formidable investigative reporter. In 1976 Ms. Davis left New York for Washington to begin her study of Katharine Graham, where she invested more than three years interviewing, investigating, and conducting research.

Ms. Davis is currently working on a biography of Henry and Clare Boothe Luce. She was born in Chicago, and now lives in Washington.

Product details

Publisher ‏ : ‎ Inst for Media Analysis; 3rd edition (January 1, 1991)
Language ‏ : ‎ English
Paperback ‏ : ‎ 400 pages
ISBN-10 ‏ : ‎ 0941781135
ISBN-13 ‏ : ‎ 978-0941781138
Item Weight ‏ : ‎ 1.05 pounds
Dimensions ‏ : ‎ 6 x 1 x 9 inches

Best Sellers Rank: #2,894,144 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
- #2,097 in General Library & Information Sciences

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43 ratings

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Customer reviews

5 star		68%
4 star		15%
3 star		6%
2 star		7%
1 star		5%

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Top reviews from the United States

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J. Crawford

Review of Katherine the Great, biography of Katherine Graham, majority owner of the Washington Post, bought via Amazon.

Reviewed in the United States 🇺🇸 on August 30, 2012

Verified Purchase

I read the book, Katherine the Great, knowing very little about Ms. Graham's personal background, and only a little more about the history of the Washington Post.

Briefly, Ms. Graham lead a most interesting life - one in which immense wealth and privilege played a more important and formative role than I was aware. As one learns more about her, one is struck by how many positive traits she had. Given her wealth she could have chosen to lead a life of leisure and socializing. But instead she chose to work, and work hard, at an eminently worthwhile endeavor - publishing one of the country's leading newspapers. She was actively involved in the newspaper's management even while her husband occupied the top managerial position. However, once her husband died (at an untimely age) she stepped into the top managerial position and performed quite well. As a generality she hired well, and paid well.

The book never addressed in detail her management style; but as one absorbs one point after another, I think it's fair to say that she lead primarily through clear instructions and persuasion. Brow-beating, bullying, and humiliation simply weren't part of her makeup. Her polish, poise and intellect enabled her to mix easily with diplomats, top government officials, and cultural leaders of all types.

Politically, Ms. Graham's views were clearly left of center (unlike mine, which happen to be right of center); and, not surprisingly, the Washington Post reflected her personal political views. However, while I disagree with many political positions articulated in the Post, the Post's positions both during and after Ms. Graham's leadership, have generally been set forth responsibly.

I began reading Katherine the Great expecting it to be an interesting book; and found that, for me at least, it was an immensely interesting book. Basically, I devoured it. The book should have broad appeal across the board. But I believe it will be especially appealing to those who have a particular interest in Washington DC - the history of its most prominent newspaper, the personalities that guided the newspaper, and the "behind the scenes" working of Washington DC.

27 people found this helpful

Helpful

Elenabel

Excellent research and logic. Insightful, educational read.

Reviewed in the United States 🇺🇸 on August 2, 2019

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Excellent research and logic. Insightful, educational read. Interesting look at connections that make the WP the USA's #1 intelligence agency disinformation mouthpiece (since then, many others have been subsumed into that role, as well).

The case made in this book was so solid that it stood up solidly, despite all kinds of attack. As a part of using every method to bury this book, Katherine Graham even produced a book of her memoirs, with an almost identical title, and promoted the heck out of that.

There is so much state and hegemonic oligarchy produced fake news and fake history -- it is refreshing, once in a while, to look genuine scholarly historical research, the kinds of which probably would not be printed today.

One person found this helpful

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Roslyn Ueckermann

It was such an eye opener in terms of who ...

Reviewed in the United States 🇺🇸 on January 15, 2018

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It was such an eye opener in terms of who is truly behind the scene and how it can be controlled and manipulated. Most of the players are known to one another be it from School days to University then as they move into politics, intelligence, FBI, CIA, or journalism, they all keep in touch one way or another. Information is roaming amongst them, or tips even favours all very interwoven. A most intriguing book to read especially now seeing how things are being played out in America.

8 people found this helpful

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Jack M B Selway

Powerful and disappointing

Reviewed in the United States 🇺🇸 on July 27, 2018

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While it's true that all of our heroes have feet of clay, I had hoped that there existed some examples of great and unfaltering leadership. It appears that Eugene Meyer was the last of the generation.

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g-the-amateur

social history of the CIA

Reviewed in the United States 🇺🇸 on June 17, 2010

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about Katherine Graham, her parents, your radical youth, but also about hers and her husband's links to CIA, the parties, the in-crowd, etc., and her shift to a right wing statist. She only bashed Nixon because she reached out to him and he dissed her. She offered to play coverup for him at first. So much for integrity of the press.

12 people found this helpful

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Michael James McHugh

Great book! Out of print and hard to find ...

Reviewed in the United States 🇺🇸 on August 7, 2017

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Great book! Out of print and hard to find but worth the read if you can find it. The "FAKE NEWS" is evidently nothing new.

3 people found this helpful

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Jayne Mackta

Some things never change

Reviewed in the United States 🇺🇸 on February 14, 2018

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Clear and compelling writing about a relevant period in the life of democracy. Great insight into the world of an American princess.

3 people found this helpful

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Maureen Rebholz

Five Stars

Reviewed in the United States 🇺🇸 on June 26, 2018

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Great reading

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R

Katharine Graham

Reviewed in the United Kingdom 🇬🇧 on July 26, 2018

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Parts of it are interesting, but considering that the subject is supposed to be Katherine Graham only about a quarter is devoted to her and there is far too much detail about other people and events and would have expected to find much more details about the main events affecting Graham. Not a patch on the original book written by Katharine Graham herself. I did finish the book so I suppose it dud keep me interested.

Barry Francis

The Book They Tried to Kill

Reviewed in Canada 🇨🇦 on February 13, 2014

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Originally published in 1979, Katherine the Great by Deborah Davis is the first full length biography of Katharine Graham. It's a book the image-conscious Katharine didn't want published and went to court to stop. After six weeks, publisher Harcourt Brace caved in - recalling and shredding 20,000 copies, even though the book had been nominated for an American book award. Fortunately, a book this important is impossible to suppress. The author sued the publishers and won an important legal victory against censorship.

The book tells the fascinating story of a woman once described as "the most powerful woman in America" - from her privileged early family life to her radical college days and her subsequent conversion to a staunch right wing philosophy. Katharine's father, the fabulously wealthy Eugene Meyer (a former governor of the Federal Reserve Board and President of the World Bank), bought the Washington Post at auction in 1933. She didn't know it then but the Post was to become her destiny.

Katherine's brilliant but erratic husband Philip Graham was appointed publisher of the Post by his father-in-law in 1946. Meanwhile Katharine settled down to home life and raised a family. In the ensuing years, Phil expanded the Washington Post empire into radio, television and newspaper syndication. He also acquired Newsweek Magazine in 1961. By the late 1950s, it became evident that Phil was battling manic depression and alcoholism which led to periodic absences from work, embarrassing episodes and ultimately, in 1963, his suicide.

Following Phil's death, the middle aged and inexperienced Katharine took over management of the Post. Battling the Post's entrenched old boy managers for respect, she used a combination of harsh and efficient management techniques to transform the Post into an economic and political force as Washington's dominant newspaper - a status that provided access to the most important salons of the nation's capital.

The book reveals the political, media and intelligence connections of the Grahams and their colleagues, including Ben Bradlee and his wife Tony. Their networking and willingness to adopt a government-friendly news spin demonstrates the dangers of the incestuous relationship between media and government .

One of Katharine's best moves was hiring Ben Bradlee and making him the Post's managing editor. Together, they won a legal battle in the Supreme Court that permitted them to publish the Pentagon Papers, exposing the ugly secrets of America's involvement in Vietnam. Subsequently, they empowered their ace reporting team, Woodward and Bernstein, to expose the abuses of Watergate which forced President Nixon's resignation. Ironically, Graham only exposed the Nixon scandals because he had curtly rejected her attempts to curry favor with his administration ( in spite of her original willingness to help cover up government misdeeds). It was Nixon's biggest mistake.

This is a book worth reading and I highly recommend it.

Barry Francis

Martin Protz

Highly critical of Katharine Graham and the Washington Post history

Reviewed in Germany 🇩🇪 on September 22, 2018

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I loved this book as being intelligently outspoken on all matters of American foreign policy since the end of WW II and its conspicuous and not-so conspicuous ties to the Washington Post's publishers and editors, namely Phil Graham, Katharine Graham and Ben Bradley. Stay away from it if you want to read an hagiography but I'd recommend you read it if interested in the well-oiled policy-making machine of Washington DC up to the 1970s.

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Katharine the Great : Katharine Graham and Her Washington Post Empire Paperback – January 1, 1991

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