Book excerpt: "When the Going Was Good" by Graydon Carter

We may receive an affiliate commission from anything you buy from this article.In his new memoir, "When the Going Was Good: An Editor's Adventures During the Last Golden Age of Magazines" (to be published Tuesday by Penguin Press), former Vanity Fair editor Graydon Carter recounts the glory days of magazine publishing, and of his stewardship of the trend-setting title for two-and-a-half decades.Among the colorful highlights Carter writes about from his career at the venerable Condé Nast property is the subterfuge required to protect Vanity Fair's 2015 scoop of Caitlyn Jenner's transition.Read an excerpt below, and don't miss Jane Pauley's interview with Graydon Carter on "CBS Sunday Morning" March 23!"When the Going Was Good" by Graydon Carter $29 at Amazon Prefer to listen? Audible has a 30-day free trial available right now.Try Audible for free We were always on the lookout for covers that would fly off the newsstands and, in years to come, go viral on the internet.

Sometimes the quest took us down unexpected byways.If the unmasking of Deep Throat was the biggest journalistic scoop of my time at Vanity Fair, the biggest scoop with regard to the overall culture was our cover exclusive about Caitlyn Jenner.

I remembered Jenner as an Olympic decathlete who as Bruce Jenner had appeared on Wheaties boxes—once among the highest accolades an athlete could aspire to.  Jenner was tall and still good-looking—later, with a bit of help from colorists and surgeons.There had been a minor and desultory film career early on, and by the time of transition, Jenner was a stepfather getting ordered about by sundry Kardashians on their reality television show.

Jenner had become a slightly tragic figure.But word began to seep out that there was going to be some dramatic news.

One day I called Jane Sarkin into my office and said, "What about Bruce Jenner?" There were stories floating about that Jenner ...