The World She Edited:
Katharine S. White at The New Yorker

"This is a first-rate biography."Washington Post

one of The Millions "Most Anticipated for Summer 2024"

one of The Boston Globe's "20 Books We Can't Wait to Read This Fall"

"Reading's in-depth, ardently and expertly written biography is a literary landmark." Booklist (starred)

"This is a superlative biography." Airmail

A lively and intimate biography of trailblazing and era-defining New Yorker editor Katharine S. White, who helped build the magazine’s prestigious legacy and transform the 20th century literary landscape for women.

In the summer of 1925, Katharine Sergeant Angell White walked into The New Yorker’s midtown office and left with a job as an editor. The magazine was only a few months old. Over the next thirty-six years, White would transform it into a literary powerhouse.

This exquisite biography brings to life the remarkable relationships White fostered with writers such as John Updike and Vladimir Nabokov. White’s biggest contribution, however, was her cultivation of women writers whose careers were made at The New Yorker—Janet Flanner, Mary McCarthy, Elizabeth Bishop, Jean Stafford, Nadine Gordimer, Elizabeth Taylor, Emily Hahn, Kay Boyle, and more. She cleared their mental and financial obstacles, introduced them to each other, and helped them create now classic stories and essays. She propelled these women to great literary heights and, in the process, reinvented the role of the editor.

Amy Reading creates a rare and deeply intimate portrait of a prolific editor—through both her incredible tenure at The New Yorker, and her famous marriage to E.B. White—and reveals how she transformed our understanding of literary culture and community.

Learn more