''Katharine the Great: Katharine Graham and The Washington Post'' is an

unauthorized biography An unauthorized biography is a biography written without the subject's permission or input. The term is usually restricted to biographies written within the subject's lifetime or shortly after their death; as such, it is not applied to biographi ...

Katharine Graham Katharine Meyer Graham (June 16, 1917 – July 17, 2001) was an American newspaper publisher. She led her family's newspaper, ''The Washington Post'', from 1963 to 1991. Graham presided over the paper as it reported on the Watergate scandal, whi ...

, owner of ''

The Washington Post ''The Washington Post'' (also known as the ''Post'' and, informally, ''WaPo'') is an American daily newspaper published in Washington, D.C. It is the most widely circulated newspaper within the Washington metropolitan area and has a large nati ...

'', authored by journalist Deborah Davis and initially published in 1979. The book was first published by

Harcourt Brace Jovanovich Harcourt () was an American publishing firm with a long history of publishing fiction and nonfiction for adults and children. The company was last based in San Diego, California, with editorial/sales/marketing/rights offices in New York City an ...

(HBJ), but they withdrew the book from circulation after a few weeks and returned the rights to Davis after citing that "certain facts and circumstances have arisen since publication." Davis sued HBJ for $6 million in 1982 for breach of contract, alleging the recall came after a letter from the ''Posts executive editor, Benjamin C. Bradlee to the publisher; Bradlee called the publication of the book "completely irresponsible" and then listed 39 errors where his name appeared. The suit was settled out of court for $100,000.

Synopsis

This biography of

, including details of the death of her husband

Philip Graham Philip Leslie Graham (July 18, 1915 – August 3, 1963) was an American newspaperman. He served as publisher and later co-owner of ''The Washington Post'' and its parent company, The Washington Post Company. During his years with the Post Comp ...

in 1963, advances some theories that have met with considerable controversy. For example, Davis claimed that the source behind the

Watergate scandal The Watergate scandal was a major political scandal in the United States involving the administration of President Richard Nixon from 1972 to 1974 that led to Nixon's resignation. The scandal stemmed from the Nixon administration's continual ...

, popularly known as Deep Throat, was a

CIA officer The Central Intelligence Agency (CIA ), known informally as the Agency and historically as the Company, is a civilian foreign intelligence service of the federal government of the United States, officially tasked with gathering, processing, ...

named Richard Ober (in fact, it was later revealed that Deep Throat had been FBI Associate Director

Mark Felt William Mark Felt Sr. (August 17, 1913 – December 18, 2008) was an American law enforcement officer who worked for the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) from 1942 to 1973 and was known for his role in the Watergate scandal. Felt wa ...

). She also claims that the ''Washington Post''s executive editor, Benjamin C. Bradlee, was part of a CIA propaganda plan to support the convictions of spies

Julius and Ethel Rosenberg Julius Rosenberg (May 12, 1918 – June 19, 1953) and Ethel Rosenberg (; September 28, 1915 – June 19, 1953) were American citizens who were convicted of spying on behalf of the Soviet Union. The couple were convicted of providing top-secret i ...

Criticism

The book received unfavorable reviews from the ''

Los Angeles Times The ''Los Angeles Times'' (abbreviated as ''LA Times'') is a daily newspaper that started publishing in Los Angeles in 1881. Based in the LA-adjacent suburb of El Segundo since 2018, it is the sixth-largest newspaper by circulation in the Un ...

'', ''

The New York Times ''The New York Times'' (''the Times'', ''NYT'', or the Gray Lady) is a daily newspaper based in New York City with a worldwide readership reported in 2020 to comprise a declining 840,000 paid print subscribers, and a growing 6 million paid ...

'' and others. Davis' 1983 settlement with HBJ was heralded as a victory for writers by Eve Pell of ''

The Nation ''The Nation'' is an American liberal biweekly magazine that covers political and cultural news, opinion, and analysis. It was founded on July 6, 1865, as a successor to William Lloyd Garrison's '' The Liberator'', an abolitionist newspaper tha ...

'', but Pell saw both at fault for failing to fact check.

Release details

It was republished in 1987 by National Press Inc., and again in 1991, this time by Sheridan Square Press.

References

{{Reflist, 2 1979 non-fiction books American biographies Unauthorized biographies The Washington Post Works about Katharine Graham Harcourt (publisher) books