Mary McGrory

July 27, 2015
In this sensitive and engrossing biography, Norris (Disaster Gypsies) draws on archival material and personal interviews to present the life of journalist Mary McGrory (1918–2004) and her long, illustrious career as a Beltway newspaperwoman. McGrory, winner of the Pulitzer Prize for Commentary in 1975 for her columns on the Watergate scandal for the Washington Star, was “a self-made woman in a man’s world,” having earned her ascent from book reviewer to, as Norris deems her, “the grande dame of Washington reporters.” This admiring tone is typical of the book, and it feels justified by her accomplishments. McGrory wrote more than 8,000 columns and covered 12 presidential campaigns in her career, along the way developing relationships with those contenders and presidents and exhibiting remarkable influence as “one of the most important liberal voices in the country,” her “lovingly crafted words” brimming with “magnificent anger” and “pointed personal insight.” Over the course of her career, McGrory covered major American events spanning from the Army-McCarthy hearings to the invasion of Afghanistan in 2003. The book is a rich portrait, and will likely encourage readers to seek more of McGrory’s groundbreaking writing. Agent: Gail Ross, Ross Yoon Agency.

Starred review from July 1, 2015
Mary McGrory's life (1918-2004) 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 (The Disaster Gypsies: Humanitarian Workers in the World's Deadliest Conflicts, 2007, etc.) with this balanced, page-turning biography. Despite the subtitle, it seems McGrory might have been the last queen as well: in her regal bearing and imperious manner, her influence on politicians and journalists, and her manner of getting others to do her bidding. Early on, it seems a little off-putting that so much is made of her romantic life (or public lack thereof), her attractiveness, and her gender in general. Ultimately, however, being a woman who found her voice and came to power during the McCarthy era is crucial to her journalistic singularity. McGrory may well have been a feminist icon, but she wasn't above playing the frail female when it worked to her advantage or employing her considerable charms in ways that might undermine journalistic objectivity. She dated the future President John F. Kennedy (once), was propositioned forthrightly by President Lyndon B. Johnson (once), and had a romantic relationship with candidate Eugene McCarthy, whose campaign manager was the true love of her life. She once said, "I would have loved to be a housewife, but it just never happened that way. I want to drop dead in the newsroom." McGrory reported more aggressively than most columnists and injected more opinion into her pieces than most reporters, making her a curious fit on the news pages of the Washington Star, which she preferred to the op-ed section. When the Star folded, she moved to the Washington Post, where her influence increased but she was never as comfortable. She could be tough, even on her friends, but frequent target Ted Kennedy proclaimed her "poet laureate of American journalism," and this nuanced portrait provides plenty of evidence. Norris is plainly in love with his fascinating subject, which is not only McGrory, but newspaper journalism in general.

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April 15, 2015

Groundbreaking Washington columnist Mary McGrory's Watergate coverage made her the first woman to win a Pulitzer Prize for commentary. Norris currently works at the Center for American Progress (fittingly, given McGrory's liberal views) and knows his way around the Beltway.

Copyright 2015 Library Journal, LLC Used with permission.

Starred review from September 1, 2015
Lyndon Johnson called her the best writer in Washington. Richard Nixon put her in the top 20 of his infamous enemies list. Though not enamored of Jimmy Carter, McGrory was an important liberal voice during the Reagan administration. Indeed, from the McCarthy hearings in the 1950s through the Clinton impeachment in the late 1990s, McGrory's opinion pieces for the Washington Star and then the Washington Post set the tone for informed, enlightened, and candid political discourse in America. A dame, a babe, a wit, a raconteur, McGrory was the ultimate journalist: interested, interesting, discerning, dedicated. Her curiosity and charm, intelligence and integrity were nonpareil and earned her coveted insider access to the most important events and people of the last half of the twentieth century. She laid the groundwork for generations of journalists of both genders for decades to come. 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.(Reprinted with permission of Booklist, copyright 2015, American Library Association.)