The Path to Power: The Years of Lyndon Johnson (1982)

A must read to understand 20th century American History. ( )

Biography at its best. I eagerly wait for the second volume. ( )

Excellent, very well written. ( )

I never expected to be gripped by a political biography in the same way that I sometimes am by a great classic novel.
Johnson's character, as limned by Caro, is Shakespearean. Born it seems with ambition virulent in his soul, bred out of poverty and hardship, Johnson commands the stage from the first time we encounter him. His quest for power is single-minded and ruthless. Like MacBeth, he will do whatever is necessary to attain his goal.
It is a measure of Caro's vast talent that he can make Texas politics in the 30s and 40s a gripping story. How Johnson took each step on his "path to power," the betrayals, backroom deals, lies and bribery and oceans of Texas oil money which enable his final ascent to the Presidency are described in living, breathing prose.
To those of us who suffered under his Presidency, this book is an explanation and an indictment of both the man and his policies.
I am going right on to Volume 2! ( )

After finishing the fourth (of an expected five) book of this mega-biography, I vowed I’d read the first three. (I don’t know why Johnson is so fascinating to me – growing up in the Viet Nam era, I definitely wasn’t a fan of LBJ.) The Path to Power covers Johnson’s early years – from his birth in 1908 through the early 1940s just after his loss in a race for a US Senate seat from Texas. The Path to Power also includes genealogical information on his mother’s side (Bunton) and his father’s (Johnson).

What Robert Caro doesn’t know about LBJ has to be negligible – he covers LBJ in such detail, that even a voluminous biography by other authors seems superficial after reading his. In addition to incredible biographical information, he provides the Big Picture: life in Texas hill country during LBJ’s formative years, the long-standing history of corruption in Texas politics, and what it was like to keep house before electricity. (That becomes particularly important to understand why Rural Electrification was such an important issue.)

On one hand, LBJ is shown to be an organizational and political genius. On the other hand, he was a real SOB from an early age. In one chapter, I feel sorry for him and in another, I’d like to wring his skinny neck.

Overall, however, this series of books by Mr. Caro provides a fascinating portrait of a man who sought and obtained power by whatever means necessary. I appreciate the author’s pressuring his interviewees for the real story of LBJ, not the good-ole-boy stories they apparently told previous biographers.

I’m looking forward to reading #2 and#3 next. ( )