Master
of the Senate
by Robert A. Caro
 |
Robert Caro's Master of the Senate examines in meticulous detail Lyndon
Johnson's career in that body, from his arrival in 1950 (after 12 years
in the House of Representatives) until his election as JFK's vice president
in 1960. This, the third of a projected four-volume series, studies not
only the pragmatic, ruthless, ambitious Johnson, who wielded influence
with both consummate skill and "raw, elemental brutality," but also the
Senate itself, which Caro describes (pre-1957) as a "cruel joke" and an
"impregnable stronghold" against social change. The milestone of Johnson's
Senate years was the 1957 Civil Rights Act, whose passage he single-handedly
engineered. As important as the bill was--both in and of itself and as
a precursor to wider-reaching civil rights legislation--it was only close
to Johnson's Southern "anti-civil rights" heart as a means to his dream:
the presidency. Caro writes that not only does power corrupt, it "reveals,"
and that's exactly what this massive, scrupulously researched book does.
A model of social, psychological, and political insight, it is not just
masterful; it is a masterpiece. --H. O'Billovich, Amazon.com
Hardcover - 1152 pages Vol 3 (April 23, 2002)
Knopf; ISBN: 0394528360
Means
of Ascent (The Years of Lyndon Johnson, Vol 2)
by Robert A. Caro
The second installment in a projected four-volume biography of LBJ
that opened with The
Path to Power, Means of Ascent shines a harsh light on the early political
years of one of America's most paradoxical presidents. The man who would
later ram civil rights legislation through a reluctant Congress, and then
be brought down by Vietnam, came out of a political swamp--Caro gives a
graphic picture of the Texas democratic political machine at its most corrupt.
The climax of the book is LBJ's election to the Senate in 1948, an election
he won by 87 dubious votes out of almost a million. That vote arguably
changed history. This book won the 1990 National Book Critics Circle Award
for Biography. Amazon.com
Paperback - 522 pages Reprint edition Vol 2 (March 1991
Vintage Books; ISBN: 067973371X)
The
Path to Power (The Years of Lyndon Johnson, Vol 1)
by Robert A. Caro
Paperback Reissue edition Vol 1 (March 1990)
Vintage Books; ISBN: 0679729453
LBJ
: A Life
by Irwin Unger, Debi Unger
Hardcover - 592 pages (October 1999)
John Wiley & Sons; ISBN: 0471176028
Lyndon
Johnson and the American Dream
Doris Kearns Goodwin
Paperback / Published 1991
Years
of Lyndon Johnson : The Path to Power
by Robert A. Caro
Paperback Reissue edition Vol 001 (March 1990)
Vintage Books; ISBN: 0679729453
Lone
Star Rising: Lyndon Johnson and His Times 1908-1960
by Robert Dallek
Book Description: Like other great figures of 20th-century American
politics, Lyndon Johnson defies easy understanding. An unrivaled master
of vote swapping, back room deals, and election-day skulduggery, he was
nevertheless an outspoken New Dealer with a genuine commitment to the poor
and the underprivileged. And he was also a representative figure. Johnson's
career speaks volumes about American politics, foreign policy, and business
in the forty years after 1930. As Charles de Gaulle said when he came to
JFK's funeral: Kennedy was America's mask, but this man Johnson is the
country's real face.
In Lone Star Rising, Robert Dallek, winner of the prestigious Bancroft
Prize for his study of Franklin D. Roosevelt, turns to this fascinating
"sinner and saint" to offer a brilliant, definitive portrait of a great
American politician. Based on seven years of research in over 450 manuscript
collections and oral histories, as well as numerous personal interviews,
this first book in a two-volume biography follows Johnson's life from his
childhood to his election as vice-president under Kennedy. We see Johnson,
the twenty-three-year-old aide to a pampered millionaire Representative,
become a de facto Congressman, and at age twenty-eight the country's best
state director of the National Youth Administration. We see Johnson, the
"human dynamo," first in the House and then in the Senate, whirl his way
through sixteen- and eighteen-hour days, talking, urging, demanding, reaching
for influence and power, in an uncommonly successful congressional career.
Dallek pays full due to Johnson's failings--his obsession with being
top dog, his willingness to cut corners, and worse, to get there--but he
also illuminates Johnson's sheer brilliance as a politician, the high regard
in which key members of the New Deal, including FDR, held him, and his
genuine concern for minorities and the downtrodden.
No president in American history is currently less admired than Lyndon
Johnson. Bitter memories of Vietnam have sent Johnson's reputation into
free fall, and recent biographies have painted him as a scoundrel who did
more harm than good. Lone Star Rising attempts to strike a balance. It
does not neglect the tawdry side of Johnson's political career, including
much that is revealed for the first time. But it also reminds us that Lyndon
Johnson was a man of exceptional vision, who from early in his career worked
to bring the South into the mainstream of American economic and political
life, to give the disadvantaged a decent chance, and to end racial segregation
for the well-being of the nation.
Hardcover from Oxford Press
Book Published: August, 1991
Reaching
for Glory : The Johnson White House Tapes, 1964-1965
by Michael R. Beschloss (Editor)
(Hardcover - November 2001)
Dereliction
of Duty : Johnson, McNamara, the Joint Chiefs of Staff, and the Lies That
Led to Vietnam
by H. R. McMaster
Paperback: 464 pages ; Dimensions (in inches): 1.25 x
9.23 x 6.25
Publisher: Perennial; ; Reprint edition (June 1998)
ISBN: 0060929081
In
the Boat With LBJ
by John L. Bullion
(Paperback - September 2001)
Lyndon
B. Johnson and American Liberalism: A Brief Biography With Documents (A
Bedford Series in History and Culture)
by Bruce J. Schulman
Paperback from Bedford/St. Martin's
Book Published: March, 1995
Lyndon
Johnson and the Great Society (American Ways Series)
by John A. Andrew
Hardcover from Ivan R Dee, Inc.
Book Published: April, 1998
In
His Steps: Lyndon Johnson and the Kennedy Mystique
by Paul R. Henggeler
Hardcover from Ivan R Dee, Inc.
Book Published: April, 1991
Lyndon
Johnson Confronts the World : American Foreign Policy 1963-1968
by Warren I. Cohen, Nancy Bernkopf Tucker
Paperback from Cambridge University Press
Book Published: January, 1995
Lyndon
Johnson Remembered: An Intimate Portrait of a Presidency
by Thomas W. Cowger, Sherwin J. Markman
Hardcover from Rowman & Littlefield Publishers
Book Published: October, 2003
Pay
Any Price: Lyndon Johnson and the Wars for Vietnam
by Lloyd C. Gardner
Paperback from Ivan R Dee, Inc.
Book Published: October, 1997
Flawed Giant: Lyndon B. Johnson, 1960-1973
by Robert Dallek
 |
In the opening pages of Flawed Giant, readers meet a downtrodden politician
whose greatest ambition--the presidency--is tantalizingly close but seemingly
out of reach. JFK's elder by almost 20 years, Johnson was a reluctant and
unenthusiastic vice president. When he finally realized the office, his
satisfaction there was marred by his difficulty in reconciling his deeply
held beliefs and political expediency. In this sequel to the critically
acclaimed Lone Star Rising, biographer Robert Dallek concentrates on Johnson's
White House years. In addition to expertly covering the major events of
Johnson's presidency, Dallek probes lower-profile episodes that help expose
Johnson's character. His agonizing search for a vice president in 1964
is one such example--in order to salve his ego, Johnson was adamant that
he should win reelection without a Kennedy on the ticket and resisted both
the Democratic party and Robert Kennedy right up until the convention.
Amazon.com
Hardcover - 754 pages (April 1, 1998)
Oxford Univ Pr (Trade); ISBN: 0195054652
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