Katharine Graham inherited her father’s company, the newspaper The Washington Post, and allowed her husband to manage it. Unfortunately, her husband became mentally ill and made poor business decisions. He later died by suicide, leaving Graham with the task of rebuilding the business. In addition to facing a skeptical board, Graham was bullied by the Nixon administration for publishing articles critical of the government. Moreover, the Post’s stock price was low and the printer’s union went on strike, crippling the paper financially. Frightened investors began to sell their shares in the company, and Graham decided to spend company money buying back these shares.

In spite of all these challenges, Graham persevered, and the newspaper won the Pulitzer for its reporting on the Watergate scandal. Ultimately, the newspaper became a financial success, as Graham’s stock buybacks made the company billions of dollars. Holiday praises Graham’s “confidence and a willingness to endure” to save the company when she could have given up and sold it (166).

Holiday’s title question borrows author Robert Greene’s concept of “alive time,” or time spent learning and acting, and “dead time,” when people are inactive. He explains that at 21 years old,