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


From Publishers Weekly
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, WalterAa billionaire philanthropist, art collector and U.S. ambassador to BritainAwould 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 agenciesAand to the nation's illegal bookiesAtarring 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. Copyright 1999 Reed Business Information, Inc.


The New York Times Book Review, Richard Norton Smith
...[a] colorful, acutely observed family epic.... an elegantly written account that is sympathetic without being fawning.


From Booklist
In this engaging double biography, Ogden recounts in rich detail how immigrant Moses Annenberg enacted a rags-to-riches ascent worthy of a Horatio Alger novel. Moses purchased and aggressively marketed a local horse-racing publication, soon amassing the wherewithal to buy the prestigious Philadelphia Inquirer. But when the father's questionable business and legal dealings put the newspaper in jeopardy, it was the previously irresponsible son who recovered the family fortune by launching TV Guide (the nation's only billion-dollar-a-year publication) and Seventeen. Indeed, Walter's remarkable financial success helped elevate him to circles of political influence (bringing him an ambassadorship to Great Britain in 1969) and gave him the means to collect fine art and to practice philanthropy on a grand scale. But in chronicling Walter's rise to the top, Ogden does more than reveal a curious melding of financial shrewdness and aesthetic sensitivity: he also limns the contours of power and privilege in late-twentieth-century America. Bryce Christensen


From Kirkus Reviews
Like medieval princes, media moguls Moses (Moe) and son Walter Annenberg achieved great victories, suffered crushing losses, and exhibited astonishing generosity and vindictivenessall 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., that Walter'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) -- Copyright ©1999, Kirkus Associates, LP. All rights reserved.

FROM THE PUBLISHER

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. Legacy is an epic saga of how Moses and Walter Annenberg built a vast publishing empire and one of the nation's greatest family fortunes. Sweeping through the century, the story encompasses brutal circulation wars, bookie parlors 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, Britain's royal family, a fabled art collection, and astonishing generosity.

Two complex, driven business geniuses are the focus of this fascinating psychological portrait. Moses, the king of racing information, was the quintessential self-made millionaire, a rough man of action with enormous charm and a harsh temper who alternately indulged and brutally bullied his stuttering playboy son into becoming a man worthy of taking over his business. But when Moses used his Philadelphia Inquirer to battle Franklin D. Roosevelt and lost, landing in jail for income tax evasion, it was left to Walter-- displaying talents no one knew he had--to prove himself and redeem the family honor and fortune for his mother and seven sisters.

Succeeding beyond anyone's dreams, Walter founded Seventeen, TV Guide, and American Bandstand. After a failed first marriage that produced two children, he married Leonore Rosenstiel, his perfect partner and soul mate; became Richard Nixon's ambassador to Britain, the only U.S. envoy knighted by Queen Elizabeth; made billions investing; sold his publishing empire to Rupert Murdoch and began giving away the proceeds to improve U.S. education.

Unauthorized, but written with unprecedented access to the Annenberg family and their private papers, Legacy is at once a moving story of a family's triumph, a rich cultural history, and an irresistible reading experience.

FROM THE CRITICS

Philadelphia Inquirer

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

Wall Street Journal

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

Baltimore Sun

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

Publishers Weekly

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)

Matthew Cooper - The Washington Monthly

Christopher Ogden is right up there with Dominick Dunne as one of our best chroniclers of the rich....This is a great read.Read all 9 "From The Critics" >

WHAT PEOPLE ARE SAYING

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

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. — Dominick Dunne