Legacy: a Biography of Moses and Walter Annenberrg - Hardcover

Christopher Ogden

3.8

60 ratings by Goodreads

9780316853637: Legacy: a Biography of Moses and Walter Annenberrg

Hardcover

ISBN 10: 0316853631 ISBN 13: 9780316853637

Publisher: Little Brown Company, 1999

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The father fled East Prussia to escape the 1880s pogroms and, as a penniless immigrant boy, hawked newspapers on the streets of Chicago. The son, who lives on Philadelphia's Main Line and on a palatial California estate, is a multibillionaire and America's most generous living philanthropist. This is the epic saga of how Moses and Walter Annenberg built a vast publishing empire and one of the nation's greatest family fortunes. Seeping through the century, the story encompasses brutal circulation wars, bookie parlours and racetracks, a lethal presidential vendetta, the glory days of Hollywood and of television, diplomatic drawing rooms, White House intrigues, tangled romances, a tragic suicide, extravagant social climbing, the Royal Family, a fabled art collection and astonishing generosity. Unauthorised but written with access to the Annenberg family and their private papers, "Legacy" is at once a moving story of a family's triumph as well as a cultural history.

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Review:

Few biographers convey their subjects' business abilities and personalities with equal acuity, but Washington-based journalist Christopher Ogden has done just that in this accomplished portrait of Moses Annenberg (1877-1942) and his son, Walter. Depicting Prussian-born Moe's rise in American publishing, Ogden captures the innovative circulation gimmicks and bare-knuckled competitive tactics that fueled the success of newspapers like the The Inquirer in Philadelphia and the Daily Racing Form (the Annenbergs' cash cow). He also unsparingly but sympathetically depicts Moe's terrible temper and willed blindness to the shadiness of some of his business practices and associates, which led to a two-year jail stint for tax evasion before he came home to die. Spoiled only son Walter, born in 1908, didn't really grow up until his father's conviction shocked him into finally focusing on the family assets, which he further enhanced by creating such pioneering niche publications as Seventeen and TV Guide. Ogden nails Walter's complex character as well, doing particularly well in evaluating the younger Annenberg's famous philanthropy--partly the result of his mother's nurturing and partly a burning desire to justify his father's choices and remove any taint from his legacy. A pleasing combination of colorful history and moving father-son drama. --Wendy Smith

About the Author:

Christopher Ogden writes for Time and Fortune and has reported from the White House and State Department. He is the best-selling author of LIFE OF THE PARTY, A BIOGRAPHY OF PAMELA HARRIMAN and MAGGIE: AN INTIMATE PORTRAIT OF A WOMAN IN POWER.

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