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Loading... The Path to Power: The Years of Lyndon Johnsonby Robert A. CaroSeries: The Years of Lyndon Johnson (1)
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will love Sign up for LibraryThing to find out whether you'll like this book. I did not know much about LBJ before I read Caro's three volume biography; I was inspired after to read even more. Johnson was a complicated man with a powerful presence, and Caro does an impeccable job of picking apart Johnson's life to get at what makes him tick. For readers looking for a portrait of a president, Doris Goodwin's Lyndon Johnson and the American Dream is better. But for a comprehensive picture of the man from his humble beginnings, Caro's work is outstanding. (  ) rmcdole | Nov 15, 2009 |  "The Years of Lyndon Johnson"  AnneliM | Jan 21, 2009 | I was hooked after the first chapter. This is the book that makes you understand LBJ, or at least what drives him. I am torn between feeling sorry for him and loathing him. You come away with the impression that he never did anything that did not benefit himself personally with a few exceptions. His years as a school teacher down in south Texas and at Houston are at odds with the rest of the book where he is demonized. Did he deserve the treatment that Caro gave him? When you look at the cold hard facts of his record as a congressman, I tend to think a lot of what Caro writes is more truthful than embellishment. People remember 2 kinds of people. The really good and the really bad. Average people don't tend to linger in too many people's minds. LBJ trended toward the really bad according to the various personal interviews that Caro records in this book. Overall, I loved it. You must read this book. LBJ was an extraordinary man who accomplished a lot in a short amount of time. My feelings toward his politics are irrelevant. He is a part of history and his story is probably more interesting than you think. (  )1  network-janitor | Jan 3, 2009 | 1773 The Years of Lyndon Johnson: The Path to Power, by Robert A. Caro (read 8 Apr 1983) (National Book Critics Circle nonfiction award for 1982) This first volume of Caro's multi-volume biography covers the period up to 1941. It was extremely interesting at times, though there were sections that were dull. But all the part on his early life, and the fantastic account of his college career at San Marcos, were unbelievable and fascinating. He is portrayed as an obnoxious person, a person that it is impossible anyone could stand. Yet he obviously inspired deep and long-lasting regard in many persons. His debate coaching was extremely successful, and the work he did as a secretary to Rep. Kleberg seems rather overdrawn. One suspects exaggeration often in the book, drawn so heavily as it is from oral reminiscences of old people. The first race for Congress, in 1937, is really excitingly related, though it is hard to believe there isn't considerable exaggeration there too. The loss in 1941 to W. Lee O' Daniel is dramatically told--the cheating in elections was shameful. I wonder if things are more honest in Texas nowadays. A big and interesting book, just published in 1982. (  ) Schmerguls | Oct 19, 2008 | This first volume in the not-yet finished full biography of Lyndon Johnson is as much a history of Texas and the hill country as a life of LBJ. Caro excels at portraying life on the Texas frontier as well as what it was like to live on a farm, with no electricity, during the depression. LBJ's early years--sometimes you want to kick the crap out of him, other times you can't help but like him--are chronicled in this volume which takes us up to his failed run for US Senate against Pappy O'Daniel in 1942. ( )1 patience_crabstick | Feb 13, 2008 |  no reviews | add a review
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(retrieved from Amazon Fri, 24 Apr 2009 07:58:03 -0400)
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