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Sebastian Ritscher
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MARY MCGRORY: THE FIRST QUEEN OF JOURNALISM

John Norris

A wildly entertaining biography of the trailblazing Washington columnist and the first woman to win the Pulitzer Prize for commentary.
Before there was Maureen Dowd or Gail Collins or Molly Ivins, there was Mary McGrory. She was a trailblazing columnist who achieved national syndication and reported from the front lines of American politics for five decades. From her first assignment reporting on the Army–McCarthy hearings to her Pulitzer-winning coverage of Watergate and controversial observations of President Bush after September 11, McGrory humanized the players on the great national stage while establishing herself as a uniquely influential voice. Behind the scenes she flirted, drank, cajoled, and jousted with the most important figures in American life, breaking all the rules in the journalism textbook. Her writing was admired and feared by such notables as Lyndon Johnson (who also tried to seduce her) and her friend Bobby Kennedy who observed, “Mary is so gentle—until she gets behind a typewriter.” Her soirees, filled with Supreme Court justices, senators, interns, and copy boys alike, were legendary.

As the red-hot center of the Beltway in a time when the newsrooms were dominated by men, McGrory makes for a powerfully engrossing subject. Laced with juicy gossip and McGrory’s own acerbic wit, John Norris’s colorful biography reads like an insider’s view of latter-day American history—and one of its most enduring characters.

John Norris is the executive director of the Sustainable Security and Peacebuilding Initiative at American Progress. Previously, he served as the Washington chief of staff for the International Crisis Group and the director of communications for U.S. Deputy Secretary of State Strobe Talbott. He has written for Politico, The Washington Post, the Los Angeles Times, and The Wall Street Journal.
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Book

Published 2015-09-22 by Viking

Book

Published 2015-09-22 by Viking

Comments

Depicted with admiration by writer John Norris, McGrory is what you get when proximity to power, keen observation skills, painstaking reporting, a judgmental streak and passionate liberalism coalesce in a singularly talented writer . . . After reading this book, I reached out to Post veterans who knew her well. They invoked the powerful simplicity of her writing, her mix of manners and toughness. They recalled small kindnesses, yet the expression “didn’t suffer fools” surfaced repeatedly. I asked if any journalist today resembled McGrory. “No,” one told me. “Oh, no.” Read more...

Few biographies are page-turners, but Norris’s vivid account of this pioneering writer so vibrantly recalls the heady heyday of op-ed journalism that readers will avidly mourn the advent of the 24/7 cable and talk radio punditry that took its place. McGrory was an icon of wit and wisdom; we will not see her like again.

Norris portrays a talented and complex woman . . . Those interested in recent political history will relish the fascinating insider details.

Norris was a guest on “Weekend Edition Saturday” with Scott Simon on 9/19. Follow the hyperlink for the terrific discussion and to see many great pictures from the book. Read more...

MARY MCGRORY: The First Queen of Journalism’ will scratch every nostalgic itch with ink-stained fingers. McGrory’s five-decade career covering Washington provides an enormous picture window onto the media landscape, and Norris…focuses much of his attention on the glamour of the era…You may find yourself beguiled by [McGrory] as well. I realized I was under her spell at the end of the book.

The book is a rich portrait, and will likely encourage readers to seek more of McGrory’s groundbreaking writing. Read more...

Polish: Illuminatio

Interview Read more...

John Norris has written a lively and affectionate biography of Mary McGrory, perhaps the most consequential liberal voice of the late 20th century. Jill Abramson Read more...

For a biographer, the story of McGrory’s life is the stories she wrote in her columns. What Mr. Norris produces is a graceful gloss of her times in Washington and the life she lived to write about them…Baseball players, gangsters and musicians are remembered, but journalists are forgotten. Mr. Norris has accomplished a rare feat, giving a journalist a bit of posterity. If they don’t remember Mary McGrory, it isn’t John Norris’s fault. Or hers. Read more...

[W]onderfully intimate, gossipy, and laced with delicious anecdotes… As newspapers struggle and fade, Mary McGrory offers a paean to their most vibrant era, as well as a lovely portrait of one of its most distinctive characters.

Mary McGrory’s life as a Pulitzer Prize-winning Washington columnist is so interesting that it’s hard to understand why there hasn’t been a book about her until now. Enter Norris . . . with this balanced, page-turning biography…Ted Kennedy proclaimed [McGrory] ‘poet laureate of American journalism,’ and this nuanced portrait provides plenty of evidence. Read more...

Any person of spirit, who loves good writing, will almost feel, after reading this book, that he or she did have a chance to dance the rumba toward dawn with Mary McGrory.