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Personal History
by: Katharine Graham |
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Binding: Paperback Dewey Decimal Number: 070.5092 EAN: 9780375701047 Edition: Illustrated. ISBN: 0375701044 Label: Vintage Manufacturer: Vintage Number Of Items: 1 Number Of Pages: 688 Publication Date: February 24, 1998 Publisher: Vintage Release Date: February 24, 1998 Studio: Vintage Features:
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| Customer Reviews | ||
 - More than just a spoiled rich girl...This book was simply fascinating. I wondered how someone so integral to our country's media could've escaped me... I have to be honest, though: Before someone suggested this title for my book club, I had never heard of Katharine Graham. Upon ordering the book, I did a quick search to learn who she was, and from my two minutes of Googling, I expected her autobiography to be an uninspired list of petty complaints by an out-of-touch American princess. The intriguing first part of the book, which focused on the origins of her mother and father, helped ease the reader into wanting to learn more about this privileged woman; without the family history, I'm not sure I'd have been as interested. By the time Graham was thrust into the position of helming The Washington Post, my assumptions about her life and "privilege" were turned upside-down. To be sure, her life was filled with luxuries and advantages, but the family, social, and personality issues so many of us "regular" people endure affected Graham too. She effortlessly toggles between name-dropping business moguls and politicians and expressing her lifelong struggles with shyness and low self-esteem. She deserved major props for exposing her vulnerabilities despite a proclivity to be "appropriate." Some criticisms: - A portion of the book relates The Post's involvement with uncovering Watergate, but the author makes a great assumption that readers already know the specifics of the Nixon scandal. A short summary of the overall issue would've been appreciated by uninformed people like me (who hadn't been born yet and skipped that day in Government 202) who'd like not to do research about it afterward. - Toward the end of the book, Warren Buffett becomes a major character of the story. Graham comes across as fawning over him, and his presence is disproportionately great when compared to other supposedly main characters of her book. - There are so many people and names in this book that it can be a hard read. Read slowly and take notes if necessary. Rating:  - Simply outstandingKatharine Graham's Personal History is by far one of the best autobiographies I've ever read. Her candor about her triumphs and hardships is powerful and at times inspiring. Kay's ability to tell her often dark tale without that 'woe is me' vibe is refreshing. Her writing is quality. There is a good reason why this book won a Pulitzer...it deserved it! Rating:  - Don't waste your moneyThis book was terrible. If my book club wasn't reading it, I would have put it down after the first hundred pages. It's a personal history, but not really about her. Quite frankly, without her father & husband, she would just have been another little rich girl without a clue. I can't believe it won a Pulitzer prize. They need to get a new committee. Rating: - Politics, family, women's issues, labor issues, business all wrapped in one amazing bookThis amazing book has so many stories wrapped into one but the main message I got from it is that life is about perseverance. Mrs. Graham was not afraid to tell you about the faults, fears and pains in her life. From childhood, to marriage, to leading the Washington Post and even her poignant words about old age, she addresses her weaknesses and failures and how difficult it was to get through each of life's trials but how good it felt to get through them. This book was interesting in that it contained stories that enveloped family life growing up, family life being married to a dominant man, love, heartbreak, career, being a woman in a top job and a woman generally. It also addresses politics, the newspaper business, freedom of the press, and Washington life. While there were times I felt that too much detail was given on a particular event or point in time, it all added to understanding the stories and motivations for her opinions and thoughts. I found this book to be very interesting, enjoyable and uplifting. Rating:  - Interesting and a good readI enjoyed this book but it seemed a little hard to relate to her family background. |
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