Personal History
Katharine Graham's memoir traces her life from a privileged but emotionally distant childhood to her unexpected role as publisher of The Washington Post. After her husband Philip Graham, who had run the paper, died by suicide in 1963, she took control of the company with little business experience and learned the job under pressure. She writes candidly about her insecurity, her growth as a leader, and the decisions to publish the Pentagon Papers and to back the Post's Watergate reporting that helped bring down a presidency. The book is also a frank account of marriage, mental illness, and a woman finding her voice in a male dominated world. Personal History won the Pulitzer Prize for Biography or Autobiography and is widely regarded as one of the finest American memoirs.
What you might want to know about Personal History
The questions readers send us most often, answered without spoilers.
Katharine Graham recounts her path from a sheltered upbringing to leading The Washington Post through Watergate and the Pentagon Papers.
Yes. It won the 1998 Pulitzer Prize for Biography or Autobiography.
Graham is the central figure in the 2017 film The Post, which dramatizes the Pentagon Papers decision she describes in her memoir.
Personal History was written by Katharine Graham, published in 1997 by Alfred A. Knopf.
Personal History is 642 pages in standard print editions, though page counts vary slightly between hardcover, paperback, and large-print formats.
At an average reading pace of about 250 words per minute, Personal History takes most readers 10 to 14 hours to finish.
Personal History is available in hardcover, paperback, ebook, and audiobook formats from Amazon, Bookshop.org, ThriftBooks, and most major bookstores.