For decades Mary McGrory was a fixture in Washington, one of the most respected columnists in the business. Fellow journalist Phil Gailey never succeeded in talking the Boston-born McGrory into publishing a compilation of her best work. So he took her advice ("You do it when I'm gone") and helped put together "The Best of Mary McGrory." Containing over 100 columns spanning the past half-century, McGrory touches upon the McCarthy era, President Kennedy's assassination, the Vietnam War, Watergate, Iran-Contra, and Bill Clinton's sex scandal in this collection. McGrory was an unapologetic liberal who began her career at the Boston Herald, and moved to the Washington Star in 1947, where she remained for nearly 35 years. In 1974, she was the first woman to win the Pulitzer Prize for commentary for her columns on Watergate. In 1981, she joined the Washington Post, where she remained until her death in 2004. ($24.95 / 352 pages / Andrews McNeel)