Legacy: A Biography of Moses and Walter Annenberg

by Christopher Ogden

Overview

From the bestselling biographer of Pamela Digby Churchill Hayward Harriman comes a multi-generational saga of one of America's wealthiest and most controversial families—the Annenbergs.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780316633796
Publisher:	Little, Brown and Company
Publication date:	06/24/1999
Pages:	624
Product dimensions:	6.00(w) x 9.25(h) x (d)
Age Range:	13 Years

Table of Contents

	Introduction	3
1.	East Prussia	9
2.	Chicago	23
3.	Hearst	41
4.	Milwaukee	57
5.	New York	75
6.	Sport of Kings	89
7.	The Wire	101
8.	School Days	113
9.	Boy About Town	130
10.	Miami	147
11.	Philadelphia	162
12.	Donnybrook	189
13.	Indictment	205
14.	Lewisburg	228
15.	Boy to Man	245
16.	Main Line	262
17.	Seeds of Empire	284
18.	Lee	302
19.	Television	320
20.	The Children	337
21.	Press Lord	356
22	Dreamworld	393
23.	Rough Start	420
24.	Smooth Finish	445
25.	Back Home	472
26.	Reagan Connection	490
27.	Loose Ends	512
28.	Philanthropist	529
	Selected List of Walter Annenberg's Philanthropy	553
	Interviews	556
	Notes	559
	Bibliography	586
	Acknowledgments	595
	Index	598

What People are Saying About This

David McCullough

A remarkable biography...A first-rate American saga (David McCullough is Author of Truman).

Dominick Dunne

How elegantly Christopher Ogden has told the fascinating tale of the billionaire philanthropist Walter Annenberg's love for his father, Moses Annenberg, whose prison sentence brought shame and embarassment to his family. I found myself deeply moved to Annenberg's lifelong devotion to overcoming that black mark. It is a story of enormous success. What a great pleasure to read about the good rich, who understand the obligations of being rich.

Jessica Seigel

Legacy: A Biography Of Moses And Walter Annenberg tells how the son's business smarts, social climbing, and multibillion philanthropy cleaned the Annenberg reputation.
—Jessica Seigel, Brill's Content

Editorial Reviews

Meticulous and fascinating...well-researchedwell-writtenexcellent reporting.

Baltimore Sun

A family saga of wealthcorruptionphilanthropyand redemption — and vengeance reversed....Mr. Ogden has evoked the two Annenbergswarts and all.

Wall Street Journal

Rich characterization....Walter Annenberg emerges here as a wonderfully complex character.

Philadelphia Inquirer

...[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

Richard Norton Smith

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

Matthew Cooper

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.

Tikkun

[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

Mitchell B. Pearlstein

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)

Kirkus Reviews