Personal History Study Guide

Personal History Plot Summary

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Personal History presents the saga of Katharine Graham, who succeeds her father and husband as publisher of the Washington Post and leads it successfully through the troubled times of Vietnam and Watergate.

Katharine "Kay" Graham is the fourth of five children born to Eugene Meyer, a wealthy investment banker who turns civil servant under presidents Hoover and Roosevelt, and Agnes Meyer, a mentally troubled political and social activist. Eugene leaves government employ when Kay is young and buys the failing Washington Post. Agnes is ill-suited for motherhood and lauds her considerable accomplishments over the children, while Eugene is distant but supportive. Kay excels in school but is socially backward. She muddles through a year of college at Vassar but thrives at the University of Chicago, where she becomes involved in liberal politics. After a year writing for a small San Francisco newspaper, where labor issues are her favorite subject, Kay...
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