Cissy: The Extraordinary Life of Eleanor Medill Patterson

512 pp. Brown front and back panels, brown cloth spine with gold imprint. 8vo - over 7¾" - 9¾" tall. Dust jacket with slight tear on upper front edge. Very Good Condition. In this extraordinary biography, Ralph G. Martin has written a full-scale account of the life of Eleanor "Cissy" Patterson—the outrageously outspiken and incredibly wealthy and passionate woman who dominated Washington society and revolutionized American journalism before her death in 1948. Cissy was as fascinating—and nearly as controversial—as her good friend William Randolph Hearst. The granddaughter of Joseph Medill, who owned the Chicago Tribune, and the sister of Joseph Patterson, founder of the New York Daily News, she became the first woman ever to edit and publish a major American newspaper, the Washington Times-Herald. She was a debutante, a countess, a wife, a mother, an actress, a novelist, a millionaire, a journalist and a publisher. She owned Flat Creek Ranch, near Jackson, Wyoming. Simon & Schuster, 1979. $60.