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Master of the Senate: The Years of Lyndon Johnson, (Vintage) (平装)
by Robert A. Caro
Category:
American presidency, American history, Biography |
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AllReviews |
1 2  | Total 2 pages 12 items |
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Amazon.com (MSL quote), USA
<2008-03-07 00:00>
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 in 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. |
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Publishers Weekly (MSL quote), USA
<2008-03-07 00:00>
As a genre, Senate biography tends not to excite. The Senate is a genteel establishment engaged in a legislative process that often appears arcane to outsiders. Nevertheless, there is something uniquely mesmerizing about the wily, combative Lyndon Johnson as portrayed by Caro. In this, the third installment of his projected four-volume life of Johnson (following The Path to Power and Means of Ascent), Caro traces the Texan's career from his days as a newly elected junior senator in 1949 up to his fight for the Democratic presidential nomination in 1960. In 1953, Johnson became the youngest minority leader in Senate history, and the following year, when the Democrats won control, the youngest majority leader. Throughout the book, Caro portrays an uncompromisingly ambitious man at the height of his political and rhetorical powers: a furtive, relentless operator who routinely played both sides of the street to his advantage in a range of disputes. "He would tell us [segregationists]," recalled Herman Talmadge, "I'm one of you, but I can help you more if I don't meet with you." At the same time, Johnson worked behind the scenes to cultivate NAACP leaders. Though it emerges here that he was perhaps not instinctively on the side of the angels in this or other controversies, the pragmatic Senator Johnson nevertheless understood the drift of history well, and invariably chose to swim with the tide, rather than against. The same would not be said later of the Johnson who dwelled so glumly in the White House, expanding a war that even he, eventually, came to loathe. But that is another volume: one that we shall await eagerly. Photos. Copyright 2002 Cahners Business Information, Inc. |
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AudioFile (MSL quote), USA
<2008-03-07 00:00>
In 1957 the Senate was moribund, caught in a deadly three-way stalemate between Republicans, Southern Democrats, and liberal Northern Democrats. In 1949, however, Lyndon Johnson was elected from Texas, and, like God Almighty, bent down, molded it in his image, and breathed new life into it. In this third volume, Caro follows Johnson's career from that election to his masterstroke of political engineering as the Senate's young majority leader-the Civil Rights Act of 1957. The abridgment has a completeness and an artistic integrity all its own. Stephen Lang's narration, too, is an artistic achievement. Miraculously without caricature, Lang creates credible voices for the towering hill-country Texan; Kennedy of Massachusetts; the fast-talking senator from Minnesota, Hubert Humphrey; and many others. Lang switches effortlessly and accurately between Johnson snarling at Senate clerks and Caro's brilliant narrative. This is history at its best, and in manageable doses. P.E.F. Winner of AudioFile Earphones Award © AudioFile 2002, Portland, Maine- Copyright © AudioFile, Portland, Maine |
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Booklist (MSL quote), USA
<2008-03-07 00:00>
Starred Review The obvious question about the third volume inCaro's dynamic, definitive biography of LBJ, following itsaward-winning predecessors, The Path to Power (1982) and Meansof Ascent (1990), is: Does it live up to the profound success of theearlier volumes? The answer is a resounding yes. Caro now coversJohnson's career in the U.S. Senate (1949-61), where, remarkablyquickly, he rose to majority leader. We primarily remember LBJ as thepresident confounded by the Vietnam War. But what Caro soauthoritatively yet so rousingly shows us is Johnson's unprecedentedand unsurpassed talent for leading the Senate exactly where he wantedit to go. And where he wanted it to go was, most significantly, in thedirection of civil rights legislation; he laid the groundwork, withthe Civil Rights Act of 1957, for the even greater civil rightslegislation he secured from Congress during his presidency. What Caroalso achieves so fully and compellingly is not only an understandingof Johnson's power and the psychological compulsions behind theaccumulation and exercise of it but also an awareness of theU.S. Senate's moribund state, which it had slipped into decades beforeJohnson walked into the chamber. He succeeded in turning the upperhouse into a force to be reckoned with within the structure of thefederal government. With first serial rights sold to the NewYorker, this is the biography of the season, and librarians shouldexpect to order more than one copy. Brad Hooper
Copyright © American Library Association. All rights reserved |
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The Boston Globe, USA
<2008-03-07 00:00>
Caro has a unique place among American political biographers. He has become, in many ways, the standard by which his fellows are measured. |
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Time (MSL quote), USA
<2008-03-07 00:00>
Caro’s immersion in the man and period yields a fascinating, entertaining abundance.. . Master of the Senate splendidly reassembles the U.S. Senate of those years. |
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Chicago Tribune (MSL quote), USA
<2008-03-07 00:00>
Brilliant . . . Caro achieves a special tension, too rare in history books but essential in epic poetry: the drama of a hero who is wrestling with his enemies, his limitations and his fate to achieve something truly lasting . . . In his hands, the obscure fight over legislation becomes nothing less than a battle for the soul of America . . .It’s a terribly important work, unblinkingly delineating the inner workings of our democracy. |
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Anthony Lewis, New York Times Book Review, USA
<2008-03-07 00:00>
A wonderful, a glorious tale. It will be hard to equal this amazing book. I went back over chapters to make sure I had not missed a word. |
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Arthur Schlesinger, Jr, USA
<2008-03-07 00:00>
In this fascinating book, Robert Caro does more than carry forward his epic life of Lyndon Johnson. With compelling narrative power and with remarkable subtlety and sensitivity, he illuminates the Senate of the United States and its byzantine power struggles. In this historical tour-de-force, Robert Caro shows himself the true 'master of the Senate.' |
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Patrick Beach, Austin American-Statesman, USA
<2008-03-07 00:00>
Master of the Senate and its two preceding volumes are the highest expression of biography as art. After The Path to Power and Means of Ascent, there shouldn't be much debate about Caro's grand achievement, but let's be clear about this nonetheless: In terms of political biography, not only does it not get better than this, it can't. |
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1 2  | Total 2 pages 12 items |
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