The fourth instalment in Robert Caro's multi-award-winning and bestselling biography of Lyndon Johnson, spanning a pivotal era in American history.
Robert A. Caro has been described as 'the greatest political biographer of our times' (Sunday Times) and 'the most revered historian of his generation' (New York Times). His first book, The Power Broker, published in 1974, was described in 2015 as 'one of the greatest non-fiction works ever written' (Sunday Times) and his ongoing multi-volume work The Years of Lyndon Johnson has been described as 'the greatest biography of our era' (The Times). With these books he has twice won the Pulitzer Prize, twice won the National Book Award and three times won the National Book Critics Circle Award. He has also been awarded virtually every other major literary honour, including the National Humanities Medal, awarded by President Barack Obama, the highest award in the humanities given in the United States. Born in 1935, he graduated from Princeton University, later became a Nieman Fellow at Harvard University, and was an investigative reporter for Newsday for six years. He lives with his wife, the writer Ina Caro, in New York City, where he is at work on the fifth and final volume of The Years of Lyndon Johnson.
Monumental… For many politicians it is the finest book on politics…
Magnificent…the tension between the fraud and ruthlessness that
repulsed political liberals and the reaction of voters to whom he
delivered, make Caro’s book the ultimate political story
*The Times*
This extraordinary work will remain essential reading for decades
to come
*Financial Times*
A true story of huge personalities, bloody assassinations, loves,
hatreds and betrayals (and the Kennedy family) that renders it by
turns gripping, sensational and immensely depressing… A
white-knuckle rollercoaster ride… Magisterial
*Telegraph*
A work of pure genius
*Huffington Post UK*
A work of greatness, of such acute observation of politics that its
insights are applicable far beyond [its] time and place
*Independent*
Caro’s strength as a biographer is his ability to probe Johnson’s
mind and motivations… Riveting… A rollercoaster tale
*The Economist*
Brilliant... Important... Remarkable... With this fascinating and
meticulous account of Lyndon Johnson, Robert Caro has once again
done America a great service
*New York Times Book Review*
As riveting as a thriller… The next book will crown an achievement
in presidential biography unmatched among presidential
histories
*Houston Chronicle*
Caro sets the gold standard for modern political biography ... we
can only hope we are fortunate enough to see this monumental work
reach its long-awaited conclusion
*New Statesman*
One of the most ambitious single-handed literary enterprises in our
time
*TLS*
Long live Robert Caro… Truly epic political history and character
study… Riveting…it elevates Caro’s tale to Shakespearean drama, as
the coldhearted, Machiavellian maneuvering and hot-blooded
rivalries of supremely ambitious men play out the fate of the free
world at stake
*Philadelphia Inquirer*
A tremendous story, bursting with colour and character…the sheer
wealth of political details keeps you turning the pages…gargantuan
but brilliant
*Sunday Times*
It is not often that I have muttered, “Astonishing”, to myself as I
close a book. But I see what people were on about now. Caro is a
brilliant narrator of recent history… It is a work of greatness, of
such acute observation of politics that its insights are applicable
far beyond the time and place of the United States, 1960-64
*Independent*
Riveting reading from beginning to end... The real tour de force in
this stunning mix of political and psychological analysis comes in
the account of the transition between administrations... An utterly
fascinating character study, brimming with delicious insider
stories... Unquestionably, one of the truly big books of the
year
*Booklist (starred review)*
An addictive read, written in glorious prose that suggests the
world’s most diligent beat reporter channeling William Faulkner.
Passage is an essential document of a turning point in American
history. It’s also an incisive portrait of one great, terrible
fascinating man suddenly given the chance to reinvent the country
in his image
*Entertainment Weekly*
My book of the year, by a landslide majority... Caro marries
profound psychological insight with a brilliant eye for the drama
of the times
*Guardian*
A breathtakingly dramatic story [told] with consummate artistry and
ardor... It showcases Mr Caro's masterly gifts as a writer: his
propulsive sense of narrative, his talent for enabling readers to
see and feel history in the making and his ability to situate his
subjects’ actions within the context of their times… Taken together
the installments of Mr Caro’s monumental life of Johnson so far not
only create a minutely detailed picture of an immensely complicated
and conflicted individual, but they also form a revealing prism by
which to view the better part of a century in description of
Johnson – and those of John and Robert Kennedy – have novelistic
depth and amplitude… Mr Caro uses his storytelling gifts to turn
seemingly arcane legislative maneuvers into action-movie suspense,
and he gives us unparalleled understanding…of how Johnson used a
crisis and his own political acumen to implement his agenda with
stunning speed… Engrossing
*New York Times*
It is the mismatch between Johnson’s fate prior to the
assassination and his fate in its aftermath that gives this book,
the fourth volume of Caro’s monumental biography, its compelling
but also unfathomable flavor… Caro’s account of the day of the
assassination… is a magnificent piece of writing. What might have
seemed familiar becomes startlingly fresh, because it is seen from
the perspective of the man whose destiny suddenly came back into
focus as the world of those around him was falling apart.
*London Review of Books*
Riveting... Shakespearean... It’s a rollercoaster narrative as
Johnson plummets from the powerful Senate majority leader post to
vice-presidential irrelevance, hated and humiliated by the Kennedy
brothers, then surges to presidential authority with the crack of
Lee Harvey Oswald’s rifle and forces a revolutionary civil rights
act through a recalcitrant Congress... Caro’s tormented, heroic
Johnson makes an apt embodiment of an America struggling toward
epochal change, one with a fascinating resonance in our era of
gridlocked government
*Publisher's Weekly (starred review)*
Caro has once again shown that he might well be the greatest
presidential historian we’ve ever had… Although the amount of
research Caro has done for these books is staggering, it’s his
immense talent as a writer that has made his biography of Johnson
one of America’s most amazing literary achievements… Caro’s
portrayal of the president is as scrupulously fair as it is
passionate and deeply felt… The series is a masterpiece, unlike any
other work of American history published in the past. It’s true
that there will never be another Lyndon B. Johnson, but there will
never be another Robert A. Caro, either. By writing the best
presidential biography the country has ever seen, he’s forever
changed the way we think, and read, American history
*NPR*
The years of Lyndon Johnson, when completed, will rank as America’s
most ambitiously conceived, assiduously researched and compulsively
readable political biography… When Caro’s fifth volume arrives,
reader’s gratitude will be exceeded only by their regret that there
will not be a sixth
*George F. Will*
A great work of history… A great biography… Caro has summoned
Lyndon Johnson to vivid, intimate life
*Newsweek*
The fourth volume of one of the most anticipated English-language
biographies of the past 30 years... A compelling narrative...that
will thrill those who care about American politics, the foundations
of power, or both
*Kirkus Reviews (starred review)*
Political biography of the highest quality… An unmatched
psychological portrait of Johnson as John F. Kennedy’s
assassination catapults him into the presidency
*Financial Times*
Robert Caro’s biography of Lyndon Johnson is said to be on William
Hague, George Osborne and Jeremy Hunt’s summer reading list
*Guardian*
This book shows the mastery of Johnson in politics, and also the
mastery of Caro in biography
*Bloomberg/BusinessWeek*
A great and occasionally astonishing biography
*Spectator*
One of the greatest biographies in the history of American
letters
*Cleveland Plain Dealer*
The latest in what is almost without question the greatest
political biography in modern times… Nobody goes deeper, works
harder or produces more penetrating insights than [Caro]
*Austin American-Statesman*
A major event in biography, history, even publishing itself… Caro
has once more combined prodigious research and a literary gift to
mount a stage for his Shakespearean figures: LBJ, JFK, LBJ’s
nemesis Robert F. Kennedy
*Library Journal (Starred)*
A masterly how-to manual, showing Johnson’s knowledge of governing,
his peerless congressional maneuvering and effective deal-making.
The Years of Lyndon Johnson is a compact library: brilliant
biography, gripping history, searing political drama and an
incomparable study of power. It’s also a great read… And, after
thousands of pages spent with Lyndon Johnson, one of Caro’s
singular achievements is that you want more
*Newsday*
Brilliant… Riveting reading from beginning to end… The real tour de
force in this stunning mix of political and psychological analysis
comes in the account of the transition between administrations,
from November 23 1963 to January 8, 1964… An utterly fascinating
character study, brimming with delicious insider stories… Political
wonks, of course, will dive into this book with unbridled passion,
but its focus on a larger-than-life, flawed but fascinating
individual – the kind of character who drives epic fiction – should
extend its reach much, much further. Unquestionably, one of the
truly big books of the year
*Booklist (Starred)*
The series’ crowning volume
*The Economist*
This pile-driving book has all the ingredients of a great drama,
the humiliating childhood breeding a lifelong desire (to be
president), the failure (to gain the Democratic nomination), the
humiliation (almost constant, by JF Kennedy) the sudden change of
fate (the assassination), and the vindication (when Johnson drives
through key bills that Kennedy couldn’t, and proves himself the
most astute of politicians). Totally compelling
*Sunday Times Ireland*
It is an extraordinary story of a deeply flawed character, told
with such verve, such command of the facts, and such an
understanding of power
*Mail on Sunday*
A major work of history and biography
*Guardian*
The fourth installation of Caro’s masterwork came out this year
and, cheeringly, there is no slackening of plot or pace
*Guardian*
It is a profound portrait of two men, Johnson and John F. Kennedy,
and the relationship between them
*Evening Standard*
A fascinating story, Shakespearean in its passion and fury, as well
as darkly comical
*Mail on Sunday*
This pile-driving book has all the ingredients of a great drama,
the humiliating childhood breeding a lifelong desire (to be
president), the failure (to gain the Democratic nomination), the
humiliation (almost constant, by J. F. Kennedy) the sudden change
of fate (the assassination), and the vindication (when Johnson
drives through key bills that Kennedy couldn’t, and proves himself
the most astute of politicians). Totally compelling
*Sunday Times Ireland*
The fourth volume of Caro’s magisterial work spans the five years
that end shortly after Kennedy’s assassination, as Johnson prepares
to push for a civil rights
*New York Times*
A meticulous dissection of political and economic structures in the
US… a riveting read by one of the modern masters of historical
writing
*Morning Star*
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