 | |
| Author | Michael Korda |
|---|---|
| Publisher | Random House |
Publication date | 1999 |
| ISBN | 9780679456599 |
Another Life: A Memoir of Other People is an autobiography written by Simon & Schuster publisher Michael Korda and published in the United States in 1999. In this memoir Korda gives an insider account of the world of publishing from the late 1950s through 1990s and creates intimate portraits of the authors, editors, and celebrities he has worked with over the decades.
In Another Life: A Memoir of Other People describes the process of book publishing from the acquisition of a book or author through editing and publication of a manuscript. Korda shares anecdotes about the publishing lunch and anecdotes about working with celebrities like Joan Crawford, Ronald Reagan and agent Irving Lazar. Korda also shares lessons he has learned about the business of publishing.
A good portion of the book describes the changes in the publishing industry over the decades. Korda profiles the publisher, editors and executives that worked for Simon & Schuster such as Robert Gottlieb, Richard E. Snyder, Joni Evans and others. He also gives an account of Simon & Schuster's buy-out by Gulf+Western in 1975 and the rise of publishing mergers and consolidation beginning in the 1970s. He writes about trends in the history of publishing during this time such as the rise of the chain superstores and the changes to publishing due to the rise of technology.
Korda views that publishing is a "reactive business" and that editors and publishers do not make taste or determine people's political views or affect social change but responds to what may be already there. In the book he uses the example of Harriet Beecher Stowe's Uncle Tom's Cabin . Korda's contention isn't that Stowe affected opinions but made apparent opinions that were already felt by the majority on the subject of slavery and brought it to the foreground.
The memoir was received warmly by the press. Publishers Weekly described the book " a more candid, engaging and warmly knowledgeable survey of the past 40 years of American publishing cannot be imagined." [1] The New York Times wrote, "The recollection of his adventures in the book trade is a joy to read not only because Korda knows how to tell a good story but also because he never forgets that it is not in the nature of book publishers 'to harbor negative thoughts,' because 'the lifeblood of publishing is enthusiasm, after all, not caution.' [2] Kirkus Reviews called it, "more entertaining than lunch with a power editor at the Four Seasons Grill--full of delicious gossip plus a lesson or two in book publishing. [3]
In 2012 the book was profiled in The New Yorker under What We Are Reading by Michael Agger. Agger states the book "stands as an idiosyncratic history of book publishing’s shift from small, founder-driven houses into a junior wing of the entertainment industry." [4]
Another Life: A Memoir of Other People was first published in hardcover by Random House in 1999. [5] A trade paperback edition came out in 2000. [6]
All the President's Men is a 1974 non-fiction book by Carl Bernstein and Bob Woodward, two of the journalists who investigated the June 1972 break-in at the Watergate Office Building and the resultant political scandal for The Washington Post. The book chronicles the investigative reporting of Woodward and Bernstein from Woodward's initial report on the Watergate break-in through the resignations of Nixon Administration officials H. R. Haldeman and John Ehrlichman in April 1973, and the revelation of the Oval Office Watergate tapes by Alexander Butterfield three months later. It relates the events behind the major stories the duo wrote for the Post, naming some sources who had previously refused to be identified for their initial articles, notably Hugh Sloan. It also gives detailed accounts of Woodward's secret meetings with his source Deep Throat, whose identity was kept hidden for over 30 years. Gene Roberts, the former executive editor of The Philadelphia Inquirer and former managing editor of The New York Times, has called the work of Woodward and Bernstein "maybe the single greatest reporting effort of all time."
Random House is an American book publisher and the largest general-interest paperback publisher in the world. It has several independently managed subsidiaries around the world. It is part of Penguin Random House, which is owned by the Germany-based media conglomerate Bertelsmann.
Cornelius Ryan was an Irish-American journalist and author known mainly for writing popular military history. He was especially known for his histories of World War II events: The Longest Day: 6 June 1944 D-Day (1959), The Last Battle (1966), and A Bridge Too Far (1974).
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Irving Paul "Swifty" Lazar was an American lawyer, talent agent and dealmaker, representing both movie stars and authors.
Michael Korda is an English-born writer and novelist who was editor-in-chief of Simon & Schuster in New York City.
Richard Leo Simon was an American book publisher. He was a Columbia University graduate, co-founder of the publishing house Simon & Schuster, and father of singer-songwriter Carly Simon.
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Joni Evans is an American book publisher of over 100 bestsellers, writer, editor, and literary agent. Evans's background and career in publishing includes posts as senior vice president of the William Morris Agency (1994-2006), president and Publisher of Simon & Schuster (1977-1989), and publisher at Random House (1989-1994).
Richard Elliot Snyder was an American publishing executive best known for his tenures at Simon & Schuster and Western Publishing.
Nina Bourne (1916–2010) was a publishing executive for more than 70 years for both Simon & Schuster and Alfred A. Knopf. She was known for her marketing and advertising campaigns for many books including Catch-22 and the Eloise series of children's books.
Peter Schwed (1911–2003) was an American editor and the editorial chairman and a trade book publisher for Simon & Schuster. Among the authors he edited were P.G. Wodehouse, Irving Wallace, Harold Robbins, David McCullough and Cornelius Ryan. Schwed also authored or contributed to more than a dozen books. Schwed specialized in sports publications and was either an editor or ghostwriter for such sports figures as Jack Nicklaus, Rod Laver, Bill Tilden, Chris Evert, Bjorn Borg, Roger Angell and Ted Williams. He was the co-author of golfer Nancy Lopez's The Education of a Woman Golfer.
Leon Shimkin was an American businessman who helped to build Simon & Schuster into a major publishing company. Shimkin was responsible for many self-help bestsellers turning Dale Carnegie's lectures into the bestselling book How to Win Friends and Influence People and J.K. Lasser's tax books. Shimkin co-founded Pocket Books and was a pioneer by distributing mass market paperbacks through newsstands and drugstores. Shimkin became the third partner to Simon & Schuster's Max Schuster and Richard L. Simon and remained as an executive after Simon & Schuster was sold to Field Enterprises, Inc. in 1944. Shimkin rose to become chairman of the board and owner of Simon & Schuster until he sold it to Gulf + Western in 1975.
Bernard J. Geis was an American editor and publisher who founded the now-defunct Bernard Geis Associates, which published and promoted several best-sellers in the 1960s and 70s, including Jacqueline Susann's Valley of the Dolls and Helen Gurley Brown's Sex and the Single Girl and David Wilkerson's The Cross and the Switchblade.
Max Lincoln Schuster was an American book publisher and the co-founder of the publishing company Simon & Schuster. Schuster was instrumental in the creation of Pocket Books, and the mass paperback industry, along with Richard L. Simon, Robert F. DeGraff and Leon Shimkin. Schuster published many famous works of history and philosophy including the Story of Civilization series of books by Will Durant and Ariel Durant.
Phyllis E. Grann is a former book editor and publishing executive. She was the first female CEO of a major publishing firm, Penguin Putnam, and one of the most commercially successful publishers in recent history. She was a long-time editor for Knopf Doubleday, and a former CEO of the Putnam Berkley Group and was also CEO of Penguin Putnam. Grann was responsible for publishing many notable and bestselling authors at Penguin including A. Scott Berg, Judy Blume, Tom Clancy, Patricia Cornwell, Sue Grafton, Daniel Silva, and Kurt Vonnegut. At Doubleday Grann acquired and edited Jeffrey Toobin, Tina Brown, Bob Herbert, Ayelet Waldman and Tim Weiner. At Knopf she edited John Darnton.
Alice E. Mayhew was an American editor who was vice president and editorial director for Simon & Schuster. Mayhew edited many notable authors, which include Bob Woodward, President Jimmy Carter, Doris Kearns Goodwin, David Brooks, and Ruth Bader Ginsburg. Mayhew was known for publishing books about Washington, D.C., such as All the President's Men by Bob Woodward and Carl Bernstein using a genre which is known as a political narrative, a subgenre of creative nonfiction.
Susan Laurie Kamil was the publisher as well as editor-in-chief of the Random House Publishing Group.