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- Personal History, Signed by Katharine Graham (Black and White Ball)
Personal History, Signed by Katharine Graham (Black and White Ball)
[Signed by Katharine Graham] Graham, Katharine. Personal History. First Edition. Book and dust jacket are both in very good condition. It is signed “Katharine Graham” in black marker on the title page.
Washington Post publisher Katharine Graham burst into the social stratosphere as the guest of honor at the grandest soiree of the 20th Century, Truman Capote’s Black and White ball. That party was recently dramatized on Feud: Capote vs. the Swans. The actress playing Graham is easily identifiable—the hairstyle, mask, and dress are perfect. Though she was center stage at the actual party, in the television series, she makes only a cameo appearance. Not to worry, that event is merely a set piece in the extraordinary life of Katharine Graham, who, seven years before Feud, was portrayed by Meryl Streep in the Oscar-nominated film, The Paper. In this in-depth, Pulitzer Prize-winning autobiography, Graham recalls her extraordinary life. It was transformed by a tragedy: her near-genius husband’s declining mental health and eventual suicide. Ignoring naysayers, she took his place as publisher of the family newspaper and took it to new heights, breaking open the Watergate scandal and publishing the Pentagon Papers.
“[In 1966] Truman Capote phoned me to say he was going to give a ball to cheer me up—what he said would be ‘the nicest party, darling, you ever went to.’ My initial response was, ‘I’m fine. It’s really nice of you, but I don’t need cheering up.’”
--Katharine Graham