A family saga of wealthcorruptionphilanthropyand redemption — and vengeance reversed....Mr. Ogden has evoked the two Annenbergswarts and all.
Rich characterization....Walter Annenberg emerges here as a wonderfully complex character.
A Jewish immigrant fleeing pogroms in East Prussia, Moses Annenberg (1877- 1942) arrived at Ellis Island with his family in 1885. In this gripping dual biography, Ogden (The Life of the Party) charts Annenberg's rise from poverty to the top of a media dynasty that under his son, Walter--a billionaire philanthropist, art collector and U.S. ambassador to Britain--would include the Philadelphia Inquirer, Seventeen and TV Guide. In 1899, Moses signed on with the circulation department of William Randolph Hearst's Chicago American, organizing gun- and bat-wielding gangs of neighborhood toughs to fight the local newspaper distribution wars. In 1922, he bought the racetrack bible, Daily Racing Form; in 1927, he took over a telegraph wire service providing sports and racing data to legitimate news agencies--and to the nation's illegal bookies--tarring himself with gangland associations that he tried to expunge in 1936 by buying the Inquirer, a bastion of Republican conservatism. Moses's campaign against FDR's New Deal, according to Ogden, led to a vindictive federal prosecution for income tax evasion that resulted in two years in prison. Released in 1942, he turned over the Inquirer to his spoiled, callow 33-year-old only son, Walter, a playboy with a bad stutter, entrusting him to redeem the family's honor. How Walter accomplished this while mellowing from hard-charging, partisan publisher to avuncular public figure is the theme of a robust narrative rife with appearances by characters like Ethel Merman, Damon Runyon, Huey Long, Harry Cohn and Katharine Graham. While Ogden had the full cooperation of Walter and his second wife, Lee, for this unauthorized bio, it yields a revealing, warts-and-all portrait of father and son. Photos. Author tour. (June)
Publishers Weekly - Publisher's Weekly
...[A] colorful, acutely observed family epic....an elegantly written account that is sympathetic without being fawning....With his prickly decency, Annenberg provides an honorable bridge between the gorgeously egocentric titans of the McCormick-Hearst era and today's glossy carnivores, who coarsen the culture even as they profess allegiance to traditional values.The New York Times Book Review
Christopher Ogden is right up there with Dominick Dunne as one of our best chroniclers of the rich....This is a great read.The Washington Monthly
In Legacy: A Biography of Moses and Walter Annenberg , Christopher Ogden tells us in breathless detail how the Annenberg father and son got all that money [for philanthropic gifts]: they became the essential "content providers" for consumers of American popular culture, first as racetrack bettors and then as television viewers. Unfortunately, he tells us comparatively little about how Walter gave so much of it away, although he does have a very simple theory of why: to remove a blot on the family name caused by his infamous father's conviction and imprisonment for federal tax evasion in the closing years of the New Deal...Perhaps the most dismaying aspect of the book, however, is Ogden's penchant for facile psychological speculation, despite his seeming dismissal of the method early on. Ogden relies on a simplistic binary approach to understanding personality and relationships, repeatedly telling us that Walter's character should be seen as a direct reflection of each of his parents.
[O]ne of this year's best biographies -- makes the reader sympathize with and respect both men for their energy, creativity, and ability to conqueradversity. Fortune
Like medieval princes, media moguls Moses (Moe) and son Walter Annenberg achieved great victories, suffered crushing losses, and exhibited astonishing generosity and vindictiveness—all recounted by Time and Fortune correspondent Ogden (Life of the Party: The Biography of Pamela Digby Churchill Hayward Harriman, 1994, etc.). Walter's life has been an attempt to erase the stigma left by his father, a charismatic yet bruising publisher of conservative instincts who made his fortune primarily through the Daily Racing Form and the General News Bureau, which transmitted racing data electronically. Underworld associations from the racing empire gave Moe's enemies a cudgel when he feuded with a rival Philadelphia newspaper publisher and Franklin Roosevelt favorite. Thereafter, the government prosecuted Moe for income-tax evasion, leading to a guilty plea. Moe's fall placed staggering responsibilities upon Walter, a stuttering college dropout whose nickname, "Boy," testified to his immaturity. Amazingly, however, the son not only salvaged the family fortune for his seven sisters, but also redeemed the family honor. He successfully launched Seventeen and TV Guide, won over skeptics as ambassador to Great Britain under Richard Nixon, and became one of this century's great philanthropists. For this unauthorized biography, Ogden received what seems like unfettered access to the ambassador and his enormous records, including discussions of painful events involving not only his father but also an only son who committed suicide and a daughter involved in a messy divorce. The result is a fair-minded work. While Ogden absolves the Annenbergs of the worst charges made by liberals (e.g., thatWalter's ambassadorship came because of large campaign contributions) and credits them with championing such worthy causes as better municipal government and civil rights, he also takes them to task for acts of extraordinary pettiness, such as a series of biased news articles run by Walter against future Pennsylvania governor Milton Shapp. An enthralling account of how one American family mixed pride, power, and politics in often startling ways. (32 pages photos, not seen) (Author tour)
