Legacy: A Biography of Moses and Walter Annenberg

An enthralling account of the storied lives of the father and son media moguls—publishers, philanthropists, and founder of TV Guide and Seventeen.   From the bestselling author of Life of the Party: The Biography of Pamela Digby Churchill Hayward Harriman comes a multi-generational saga of one of America’s wealthiest and most controversial families—the Annenbergs. “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 . . .  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” (Booklist).   “Like medieval princes, media moguls Moses (Moe) and son Walter Annenberg achieved great victories, suffered crushing losses, and exhibited astonishing generosity and vindictiveness . . . 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 . . . An enthralling account of how one American family mixed pride, power, and politics in often startling ways.”—Kirkus Reviews   “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 embarrassment to his family. I found myself deeply moved by 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