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Penguin Press

When the Going Was Good: An Editor's Adventures During the Last Golden Age of Magazines

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INSTANT NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER! Named a Best Book of the Year by critics from both NPR and the New York Post! "The voice of a man who tasted the best of the American century and still left the party early, with his dignity intact." —The New Yorker From the pages of Spy and Vanity Fair to the red carpets of Hollywood, editor Graydon Carter revives the riotous worlds of print and glamour at their heyday After working at both Time and Life and cofounding Spy, 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. 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 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. 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, further planting 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. Charming, candid, and brimming with stories, When the Going Was Good perfectly captures the last golden age of print magazines from the inside out. Read more

Publisher ‏ : ‎ Penguin Press


Publication date ‏ : ‎ March 25, 2025


Language ‏ : ‎ English


Print length ‏ : ‎ 432 pages


ISBN-10 ‏ : ‎ 0593655907


ISBN-13 ‏ : ‎ 00


Item Weight ‏ : ‎ 1.6 pounds


Dimensions ‏ : ‎ 6.13 x 1.09 x 9.25 inches


Best Sellers Rank: #117,344 in Books (See Top 100 in Books) #32 in Journalist Biographies #99 in Popular Culture in Social Sciences #898 in Memoirs (Books)


#32 in Journalist Biographies:


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Top Amazon Reviews

    • Delightful
Format: Kindle
I subscribed to Vanity Fair for nearly the entirety of Graydon Carter's time there. It was a smart, interesting, beautifully illustrated magazine and its arrival in the mail was a signal to stop what I was doing and sit down and read for as long as possible. I nearly always started at the Editor's Letter, no matter how many interesting articles were listed in the table of contents. This is personal storytelling at its finest and my sole regret is that I can only read it for the first time once. ... show more
Reviewed in the United States on July 25, 2026 by Cheryl S
    • An interesting and enjoyable read ---- with some notable bits unsaid
Format: Hardcover
If you enjoy reading about the Manhattan power elite in the early years of the millennium (and I do) then this book is for you; an engaging read, filled with anecdote and character thumbnails by Graydon Carter, one of the country’s most successful mass market editors. Think of this as Mad Men updated to the turn of the twenty-first century, and centered on magazine publishing rather than advertising. To complain about the rampant name dropping in such a book misses the point. Name dropping is the whole reason for the exercise. The book is thus a memoir rather than an autobiography. There is a brief recounting of growing up in Canda in the 1950’s, but before too many pages we are off to the races with the co-founding of Spy magazine in New York. The dissolution of Carter’s second marriage (there was a very brief, youthful first union) and the meeting of his third wife and founding of a fresh family collectively gets two-thirds of one page. There are no photographs, but there are evocative full page black and white sketches by Eric Hanson preceding each chapter heading. Any memoir is an exercise in selective narration, and there are always cases where one considers what exactly may have been left out and why. For example, Mr. Carter is prone to citing long lists of people for praise (Great editors such as….; Talented writers including….; etc.) Here I always wonder who might have been deliberately omitted. Much more adroit than saying ”I never liked X” is to list all the terrific people you do like and simply leave X out. X will surely read the book, see the list, and feel the sting. Touché. He also notes in passing about the redoubtable Gore Vidal being a contributor over many years to Vanity Fair while Mr. Carter was the long-term editor there, but there is not a single anecdote about him. One wonders why. Besides possible outright omissions, there are also a number of instances between the lines that inform us about Mr. Carter’s perspective and point of view. He tells us plainly that he was hired on at Vanity Fair in 1992 at the salary of $600,000 per year (that’s about $1.4 million in 2025 dollars), so from that point on his is the story of a wealthy man. He also notes how tight money was for him prior to this, what with private school fees for the children and all, when he was making just $150,000 (that’s $380K in 2025). There is also a passing comment about how “so many kids these days” end up with careers “at a bank”. He also tells us that it was a misperception that he spent many evenings out during his Vanity Fair years, and that he only donned his dinner jacket two or three times a year. Yet a few pages later he notes that he dined at his favorite Manhattan restaurant about three nights a week. So, evidently, to him “evening out” applies only if costumed in evening wear. We are told by Carter that one year at the famous Vanity Fair Oscars party, he inadvertently arranged for Monica Lewinsky to be seated next to studio head Jeffrey Katzenberg, a noted Democratic Party supporter and friend of the Clintons, to Katzenberg’s considerable umbrage. Oops. Yet just a few pages previously we are told of the months and weeks of preparation that went into the planning of that lavish party each year, and the extreme attention to detail, especially vis-à-vis the guest list and seating arrangements (“treat each [table] as a separate dinner party”). One can draw one’s own conclusions. Lastly, since Mr. Carter is both a frequent author and a very successful editor it comes as a bit of a surprise to see on the title page the subheading “with James Fox” (the distinguished author of White Mischief among other things; his ex-wife is the great granddaughter of Sigmund Freud). And positively shocking is that such a renowned editor would allow his memoir to be published without an index. All in all, then, an interesting and enjoyable read, though with some notable bits unsaid. ... show more
Reviewed in the United States on September 30, 2025 by Max Prendergast
    • A terrific read!
Format: Hardcover
When the Going Was Good: An Editor’s Adventures During the Last Golden Age of Magazines by Graydon Carter is a terrific read! Carter has a ton of great stories and he is a wonderful story teller. Carter once stood alone at the summit of the magazine world - the nexus of a challenging, fast changing business with a deep well of creative - photography, design, fashion, writing, etc. A fun to read, present day memoir is basically a well written, extended magazine article. Graydon Carter is a master of his genre, consequently his book is just hard to put down. Carter understood that most human endeavors are relationship driven, he has always gone the extra mile to nurture his business and creative relationships. Because of this his book is much more than a time-line of his successes. In fact, his mishaps are often the more interesting stories. The secret sauce here is the joy he gets from his family, his friendships and the vast array of people he crosses paths with over the years. Pretty much every bold face name over a quarter century passes through Vanity Fair’s pages, this book is rich with interesting people. It would be hard for a person under 40 years old to understand the power these publications once had. I would imagine a younger person is aware of what a magazine is but if they were to think of them at all it would be to wonder why on Earth their supermarket allows floor space for them. But once, not really that long ago, they informed us, entertained us and the inspired us. And when this world existed there were giants who chose what we would concern ourselves with on any given month. Among these giants of publishing there was one person who stood above the rest, Graydon Carter. It’s a terrific book! ... show more
Reviewed in the United States on March 29, 2025 by Thomas Lopez
    • Great book
Format: Hardcover
Great book.
Reviewed in the United States on September 10, 2026 by Maxwell
    • Fun read but not a great book by any means
Format: Hardcover
Look, it's a fun read, and one which does have a lot of interesting anecdotes in it. However, I expected something a little more straightforward in narrative terms. The first section about Graydon's upbringing *is* straightforward and then after he joins Vanity Fair much later, the narrative is more akin to "Here's a bunch of anecdotes about this", or "Here's how we did the Oscar party" -- sort of lackluster since I'd assumed this book would have the wit of Spy magazine or Vanity Fair's better pieces. It's a fine readable work, just don't set your sights too high. ... show more
Reviewed in the United States on November 24, 2025 by Glenn
    • Magazine World
Format: Kindle
I’ve loved magazines since I was a youngster, This book gave me all the inside information I’d longed for, informative, historical and gossip galore!
Reviewed in the United States on July 22, 2026 by Donita J. Romero
    • Missing Gaydon Carter
Format: Hardcover
Enjoyed the first part of the book the most.the middle dragged a bit. I had a subscription to VF all thru the Graydon Carter years. So this was like visiting a missed friend.
Reviewed in the United States on February 14, 2026 by ravensword
    • Fabulous Autobiography!!
Format: Hardcover
I have followed Graydon Carter's career for years. He was a stellar editor of Vanity Fair, a publication my mother and I would pore over and devour, every single month. His writing is clear, smooth, and has enough sauciness in it to keep you "in the game." He writes with candor, and without fear, a trait I admire. While I do not agree with his political views, I could divorce myself from that, and simply and thoroughly enjoy his journey through the magazine world, with its trials and tribulations. Quite simply: A WONDERFUL READ. ... show more
Reviewed in the United States on April 27, 2025 by boston designer

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