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Title: Master of the Senate: The Years of Lyndon Johnson by Robert A. Caro ISBN: 0-394-52836-0 Publisher: Knopf Pub. Date: 23 April, 2002 Format: Hardcover Volumes: 1 List Price(USD): $35.00 |
Average Customer Rating: 4.61 (99 reviews)
Rating: 5
Summary: Caro Brings Relevance to the Known Stories
Comment: Caro's Master of the Senate is a masterful sage of a mysterious man. One cannot decide if this man was pure genious, pure power-monger, just a bit evil, or a secretive angel on a mission. The answer is probably all of the above, and Bob Caro's mastery of the topic is that he places Johnson's actions against a well-developed tapestry of the events around him, leading to a more thorough understanding of his actions and accomplishments.
I've been a fan of Caro's work since hearing him on NPR's Fresh Air and subsequently plodding through his masterpiece, "The Power Broker" on Robert Moses. Having read his first three volumes on Johnson (and just hoping to God he doesn't suffer a heart attack before finishing the rest!), I had the opportunity to travel to the LBJ ranch, library, and historical site in Texas last week.
The first thing that struck me is how much of the LBJ story - so well told by Caro, and so interesting to me - was in fact common knowledge. It only seemed new to me, being a "northern boy" just old enough to barely remember the end of LBJ's Presidency.
The second thing that struck me was how that common history, displayed and described in all the historical sites, came to a common end, lacking detail and relevancy. The museums are willing to go only so far, admitting, for example, how difficult Vietnam was for the man (what a surprise to any American, eh?). The museums left one with a superficial list of accomplishments. Granted, these sites are made for the masses, but without the details of the political realities, Johnson is just another President charting his way through the events of his day.
Caro, on the other hand, leaves one with a deep understanding of just what Johnson was capable of. And in Master of the Senate, Caro is at his best. Caro, for example, spends a solid 30+ pages describing Senator Russell, his personality, his history, his power structure, and most importantly why he held the power and views that he held, so that the reader can understand how Johnson played (used?) him for his personal and positional gain, and why Johnson's rise to power was all the more impressive. That but one example of Caro's magic, and it is what sets him apart from all other biographers I have read.
Probably the best reflection on Caro's throughness and honest approach to history was the reaction of the front desk staff at the LBJ Library in Austin, who, upon my commenting that I had read Caro's work, quickly pointed out that Caro was indeed "persona-non-grata" for quite some time. Nothing cuts like the truth... Happily, they too have seen the value and quality of his work, and it indeed can now be obtained in the museum store.
I have not experienced a modern biographical work more worth reading than Caro's.
Rating: 5
Summary: In awe
Comment: One stands in awe of Caro's ability to gather and digest so much information and then present it in a compelling story. No one who reads the first two volumes will be able to bypass this third volume. It continues the series with a story-telling mastery that one expects of fiction writers. The first three volumes are almost equal by themselves to a graduate degree in political science without all the hard work. And all of us who have read the first three volumes eagerly await the next, which will, indeed, undoubtedly complete the degree. But this book is not just for those interested in politics. It's for everyone who has an interest in the American experience. A classic.
Rating: 5
Summary: Caro is the best biographer writing in the U.S. today
Comment: In this book, Caro proves himself to be a master of history and biography surpassing anyone else writing today. Caro writes about aspects of American history that would be lost to many Americans, and makes it exciting, even the legislative process can be dry reading. After reading The Power Broker, his choice of Johnson as a subject initially was difficult to understand. I have read that the Johnson family will not meet with Caro, and that is unfortunate, because with this volume it is clear that Caro admires Johnson, and understands his complex personality better than anyone else who has written about him. Here, Caro very successfully weaves together Johnson's life and times in a manner that shows Johnson as a tragic figure, virtually destined to follow his family's pattern of ultimate failure, because of his extraordinary ambition. I am determined to go back and read the first volume again, with its wonderful story of life in the Hill Country. Anyone interested in 20th century American history owes Caro a debt of gratitude for devoting his life to studying Johnson and explaining him and his times to the rest of us. I only hope we don't have to wait 10 years for volume 4.
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Title: Means of Ascent (The Years of Lyndon Johnson, Volume 2) by Robert A. Caro ISBN: 067973371X Publisher: Vintage Pub. Date: 06 March, 1991 List Price(USD): $19.00 |
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Title: The Path to Power (The Years of Lyndon Johnson, Volume 1) by Robert A. Caro ISBN: 0679729453 Publisher: Vintage Pub. Date: 17 February, 1990 List Price(USD): $19.00 |
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Title: The Power Broker : Robert Moses and the Fall of New York by Robert A. Caro ISBN: 0394720245 Publisher: Vintage Pub. Date: 12 July, 1975 List Price(USD): $21.95 |
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Title: Theodore Rex by Edmund Morris ISBN: 0812966007 Publisher: Modern Library Pub. Date: 01 October, 2002 List Price(USD): $16.95 |
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Title: An Unfinished Life: John F. Kennedy, 1917-1963 by Robert Dallek ISBN: 0316172383 Publisher: Little Brown & Company Pub. Date: 13 May, 2003 List Price(USD): $30.00 |
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