Personal History by Katharine Graham
Book Description
In this bestselling and widely acclaimed memoir, Katharine Graham, the woman who piloted the Washington Post through the crisis of the Pentagon Papers and Watergate, tells her story – one that is extraordinary both for the events it encompasses and for the courage, candor, and dignity of its telling.
Here is the awkward child who grew up amid material wealth and emotional isolation; the young bride who watched her brilliant, charismatic husband – a confidant to John F. Kennedy and Lyndon Johnson – plunge into the mental illness that would culminate in his suicide. And here is the widow who shook off her grief and insecurity to take on a president and a pressman’s union as she entered into the profane boys; club of the newspaper business. Unflinchingly revealing, elegantly written, Personal History is an exemplary record of our times and of the woman who played such a shaping role within them, discovering her own strength and sense of self as she confronted – and mastered – the personal and professional crises of her extraordinarily fascinating life. Published in 1997, 642 pages.
Description from book jacket.
Research the author and the book using library resources
Information on the author’s life and works is available through our library’s online resources. Recommended online resources for Personal History by Katharine Graham include Literature Resource Center and Expanded Academic ASAP. Enter your library barcode and then use the author’s name or the book title to search for full-text encyclopedia or magazine articles.
Discussion questions
Personal History discussion questions from readingroupguides.com
Additional information
David Gergen, editor-at-large of U.S. News & World Report, engages Katharine Graham, chairman of the executive committee at the Washington Post company about her newly-published memoirs, Personal History.” A NewsHour with Jim Lehrer Transcript. February 6, 1997
NPR News: Katherine Graham Obituary including archived radio interviews with Katherine Graham.
Readalikes
The Road from Coorain by Jill Ker Conway
True North: a memoir by Jill Ker Conway
An Unquiet Mind by Kay Redfield Jamison
All the President’s Men by Bob Woodward and Carl Bernstein
Outrageous Acts and Everyday Rebellions by Gloria Steinem
Writing a Woman’s Life by Carolyn Heilbrun