It is impossible to put down this 600-plus page book without having admiration for Katharine Graham, former publisher of the Washington Post. This is the story of a woman, born in 1917, reared traditionally but with a great deal of money, who transformed herself into one of the most powerful people in the United States.

Graham's father, Eugene Meyer, bought the Washington Post in 1933. In 1946 Katharine's husband Phil Graham became the publisher when Meyer retired. Meyer gave twice as much newspaper stock to his son-in-law as to his daughter since he felt a man should not have to work for his wife. When Phil killed himself in 1963 after years of undiagnosed manic depression, Katharine took over the newspaper.

Katharine gradually taught herself the editorial and business end of the paper and became one of the most influential people in America. She stood behind editor Ben Bradlee when he published the Pentagon Papers during the Watergate scandal. When Bob Woodward and Carl Bernstein were writing their articles on Watergate, the paper had to withstand tremendous pressure from Nixon's White House, particularly when he was reelected by a huge majority in 1972. It took almost two years before Nixon resigned in disgrace, but the Washington Post stood firm.

Katharine Graham seems from her book to be a very generous woman ‹ she even speaks kindly of the woman with whom her husband had an affair. But on feminism she seems unfortunately naive. She was frequently the only woman in rooms full of men, something that made her feel very self-conscious and "invisible," when her words and even her presence were ignored. She was not invited to join male-only journalism clubs. Yet she admits she did little to help women advance in her company ‹ she simply was not schooled in feminist thought yet, and saw herself as the only person experiencing these feelings. Gloria Steinem helped educate her and Katharine gave $20,000 to start Ms. magazine. But despite Steinem's mentorship, when women employees sued the Washington Post for sex discrimination in 1972, Katharine was cautious about implementing programs to hire more women and minorities. And her book does not discuss subsequent sex discrimination lawsuits against the newspaper.

"I always thought things would grow better in time," she says, "that the atmosphere would become more welcoming of women, particularly when there were more women involved and less notice was given to any single one of us, but it didn't happen that way. For one thing there were never any more of us ‹ and still aren't, at least not at the highest levels."

Katharine Graham's story illustrates the importance of knowing our history and working together. While she became powerful herself, she didn't improve conditions for women because she stood alone.
Reviewed by Peg Yorkin