Anna Hastings: The Story Of A Washington Newspaperperson!

by Allen Drury

Anna Kowalczek comes to Washington D.C. for her first journalism job just as the United States is getting into World War II. She becomes friends with three other novice journalists, all of whom eventually become successful. Anna is not satisfied, however, she wants to start her own paper. To this end she marries Gordon Hastings, a rich senator from Texas. Using his money she begins building a communications empire. She persuades her friends to join her and over the years becomes an important force in the newspaper business. In the process, however, she loses her family and lets down her friends. "Anna Hastings" is the story of the rise of a driven woman to a position of power and an examination of the costs involved in getting there.

Genres: Fiction, Historical Fiction, Political Thriller, Politics, Journalism

300 pages, Hardcover

First published January 1, 1977

About the author

In late 1943, Allen Stuart Drury, a 25-year old Army veteran, sought work. A position as the Senate correspondent for United Press International provided him with employment and insider knowledge of the Senate. In addition to fulfilling his duties as a reporter, he kept a journal of his views of the Senate and individual senators. In addition to the Senate personalities, his journal captured the events of the 78th & 79th Congresses.
Although written in the mid-1940s, his diary was not published until 1963. "A Senate Journal" found an audience in part because of the great success of "Advise and Consent," his novel in 1959 about the consideration in the Senate of a controversial nominee for secretary of state. His greatest success was "Advise and Consent," was made into a film in 1962. The book was partly inspired by the suicide of Lester C. Hunt, senator from Wyoming. It spent 102 weeks on the New York Times' best-seller list. 'Advise & Consent' led to several sequels. 'A Shade of Difference' is set a year later. Drury then turned his attention to the next presidential election after those events with 'Capable of Honor' & 'Preserve & Protect'. He then wrote two alternative sequels based on a different outcome of an assassination attack in an earlier work: 'Come Nineveh, Come Tyre' & 'The Promise of Joy'. In 1971, he published 'The Throne of Saturn', a sf novel about the 1st attempt at sending a manned mission to Mars. He dedicated the work "To the US Astronauts & those who help them fly." Political characters in the book are archetypal rather than comfortably human. The book carries a strong anti-communist flavor. The book has a lot to say about interference in the space program by leftist Americans. Having wrapped up his political series by '75, Drury began a new one with the '77 novel 'Anna Hastings', more about journalism than politics. He returned to the timeline in '79, with the political novel 'Mark Coffin USS' (tho the main relationship between the two books was that Hastings was a minor character in 'Mark Coffin USS's sequels). It was succeeded, by the two-part 'The Hill of Summer' & 'The Roads of Earth', which are true sequels to 'Mark Coffin USS' He also wrote stand-alone novels, 'Decision' & 'Pentagon', as well as several other fiction & non-fiction works. His political novels have been described as page-turners, set against the Cold War, with an aggressive USSR seeking to undermine the USA. Drury lived in Tiburon, CA from '64 until his '98 cardiac arrest. He'd completed his 20th novel, 'Public Men' set at Stanford, just two weeks before his death. He died on 9/2/98 at St Mary's Medical Center in San Francisco, on his 80th birthday. He never married.--Wikipedia (edited)

Reviews

[Vionna · Rating 4 out of 5]

I first read this book back in the 1970s. It didn't disappoint the second time around. Anna Hastings came to Washington as a young journalist during WW2 and through her intelligence,charm and determination rises to the top of the heap there in newpaper world. Along the way, she rises over friends and enemies to her detriment. You admire her and hate her at the same time.

[Chevron Ross · Rating 2 out of 5]

While reading this book I couldn’t help thinking of Helen Thomas, the longtime United Press International correspondent. A fixture at White House news conferences for many decades, she was known for asking blunt, intimidating questions at a time when the press corps was almost exclusively male.

I don’t know whether Allen Drury had Thomas in mind when he produced Anna Hastings in 1977. The title character certainly possesses much of Thomas’s ambition. From humble beginnings, Anna rises to become one of Washington’s most influential journalists, marries a wealthy Senator and establishes her own newspaper. Ultimately, her iron will and self-righteousness bring her into conflict with the nation’s most powerful leaders, her own family and her best friends.

Drury’s first novel, Advise and Consent, appeared in 1959 and won the Pulitzer Prize. Though dated in some ways, it remains an intriguing exploration of American politics. When I saw that only one person had posted a Goodreads review of Anna Hastings, and that it deals with journalism, a favorite topic of mine, I decided to check it out.

Regrettably, Anna Hastings does not achieve the high standard Drury set with Advise and Consent. We learn little about the daily grind of a reporter’s life. Instead, Anna uses beauty and charm to worm her way into the halls of Washington influence. A contradiction of idealism and ruthlessness, Anna doesn’t hesitate to step on anyone who gets in her way, including old colleagues who, inexplicably, remain loyal to her.

The best feature of this novel is how it puts the American news media on trial. Anna betrays the standards of objectivity that once defined reportorial excellence, using her newspaper as a weapon against those who do not share her opinions on the issues of the day. As the author puts it: “Partisanship, vindictiveness, personal antipathies, deliberate slanting, deliberate suppression of opposing viewpoints … all these now masquerade with a bland self-righteousness as honesty, lack of bias, fairness, compassion and objectivity.” Don’t we see this infection even now in our daily news buffets?

Overall, I found Anna Hastings a disappointment. It also contains a great deal of foul language and profanity that were absent in Drury’s 1959 novel, when publishing standards were higher. If you’re looking for a good old-fashioned political thriller, I recommend Advise and Consent.

[Phoebe · Rating 3 out of 5]

I liked this book. I hit a bit of a slump halfway through, but the last half of the book was a whirlwind of plot and character development… sort of. I loved the relationships (or the lack there of) and Anna’s driven character. Fun read.

[Barbara Wellnitz · Rating 3 out of 5]

Tale of news reporters and one woman's climb to the top with steep costs to her personal life.