When the Going Was Good
An Editor's Adventures During the Last Golden Age of Magazines
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4.5 • 27 Ratings
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- $13.99
Publisher Description
An Instant New York Times Bestseller
From the pages of Vanity Fair to the red carpets of Hollywood, editor Graydon Carter’s memoir revives the glamorous heyday of print magazines when they were at the vanguard of American culture
When Graydon Carter was offered the editorship of Vanity Fair in 1992, he knew he faced an uphill battle—how to make the esteemed and long-established magazine his own. Not only was he confronted with a staff that he perceived to be loyal to the previous regime, but he arrived only a few years after launching Spy magazine, which gloried in skewering the celebrated and powerful—the very people Vanity Fair venerated. With curiosity, fearlessness, and a love of recent history and glamour that would come to define his storied career in magazines, Carter succeeded in endearing himself to his editors, contributors, and readers, as well as as well as those who would grace the pages of Vanity Fair. He went on to run the magazine with overwhelming success for the next two and a half decades.
Filled with colorful memories and intimate details, When the Going Was Good is Graydon Carter’s lively recounting of how he made his mark as one of the most talented editors in the business. Moving to New York from Canada, he worked at Time, Life, The New York Observer, and Spy, before catching the eye of Condé Nast chairman Si Newhouse, who pulled him in to run Vanity Fair. In Newhouse he found an unwavering champion, a loyal proprietor who gave Carter the editorial and financial freedom to thrive. Annie Leibovitz’s photographs would come to define the look of the magazine, as would the “New Establishment” and annual Hollywood issues. Carter further planted a flag in Los Angeles with the legendary Vanity Fair Oscar party.
With his inimitable voice and signature quip, he brings readers to lunches and dinners with the great and good of America, Britain, and Europe. He assembled one of the most formidable stables of writers and photographers under one roof, and here he re-creates in real time the steps he took to ensure Vanity Fair cemented its place as the epicenter of art, culture, business, and politics, even as digital media took hold. Charming, candid, and brimming with stories, When the Going Was Good perfectly captures the last golden age of print magazines from the inside out.
PUBLISHERS WEEKLY
This intimate memoir from former Vanity Fair editor-in-chief Carter (Spy: The Funny Years) is at once a sharp look at the art of crafting a story, a collection of fizzy anecdotes about the magazine industry, and a stirring catalog of his efforts to remake Vanity Fair in his own image. The focus is almost exclusively on Carter's work life, beginning with his employment as a groundman on the Canadian Railroad in the late 1960s before he moved to New York City in the '70s. There, he helped develop the satirical Spy magazine, worked at Time magazine, and, in 1992, joined Vanity Fair, whose subjects and advertisers were often mocked in the pages of Spy. Balancing grit and glamor, Carter recounts the strain his busy schedule put on his marriage, weighing those difficulties against the perks of collaborating with the likes of Annie Leibovitz and Dominick Dunne. Especially memorable is a section on the Vanity Fair Oscar party, which Carter launched in 1994 to increase the publication's standing among the entertainment industry's elite. Carter's wry tone and hard-won insights make this a must-read for aspiring journalists and those who lived through the good old days of print magazines. It's a blast.
Customer Reviews
Brought me back to a wonderful Era
Huge fan of Vanity Fair. My favorites were Edwin Coaster and the Proust Questionnaire. Pure comedic genius among all the glam and intellectual reads. I miss it so much since GC departed.