Mary was simply one of the best opinion columnists of her time. She wrote lyrically, and she never had difficulty expressing an opinion. But perhaps most impressive was Mary's reporting. She seemed to know everyone in politics, and in many other fields besides. And her columns always revealed something to readers that they never would have otherwise known."

More About The Best of Mary McGrory

For years, fellow journalist Phil Gailey attempted to persuade legendary columnist Mary McGrory to compile her best work into one career-spanning collection. He would even offer to help his dear friend. But the response was always the same. "You do it when I'm gone," Mary would say.

With Mary's passing in 2004, that's exactly what Gailey sought to do. Now, her legendary writing lives on in The Best of Mary McGrory, the first-ever comprehensive collection of her very best work.

During her prolific journalism career that spanned 50 years, McGrory built her reputation through powerful commentaries on major U.S. events such as President Kennedy's assassination, the Vietnam War, Watergate, Iran-Contra, and Bill Clinton's sex scandal. But her greatest reader reactions typically came when she wrote about the small struggles of everyday life.

This collection includes more than 100 jewels carefully selected from her treasure chest of more than 7,000 columns-a blend of her biting political wit mixed with her fresh perspectives on seemingly mundane daily life. From Mary's early columns on the 1954 Army-McCarthy hearings to her final essay on "Blossoms and Bombs," which juxtaposed the start of the Iraq War with the dawn of spring, The Best of Mary McGrory captures the elegant writing and the versatility of the Grande Dame of the Washington journalism scene during the 20th century.