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4.59 AVERAGE
4.59 AVERAGE
informative
medium-paced
informative
medium-paced
informative
slow-paced
challenging
dark
informative
slow-paced
Another exceptional work from Caro. Shorter than the others and mainly focused on the 1948? Senate race between Johnson and Stevenson. I loved learning about coke Stevenson! He was a real role model of a life well lived. Johnson continues to be the most contradictory man ever. This ongoing study of a man who thought any mean justifies the end and the intricacies of the american legal and political system is written so well you really cant put it down. Highly recommended.
informative
slow-paced
As others have said, it's no "Path to Power," but this book describes an important part of LBJ's life - in particular, the election that vaulted him into the Senate. It's incredibly well researched and worth reading as part of Caro's LBJ series.
Beautifully written and thoroughly researched… my only deduction is because unlike books 3 and 4, where I could mostly root for Johnson because there was an argument that the ends justified the means, I found this hard to read at parts as he mistreated Stevenson and stole the election with no shame. It may have been easier to stomach if we weren’t so close to an election right now - seeing the ‘’modern” character smearing and reliance on big spending that have become commonplace since 1948.
Wow insane to think that if LBJ had not stolen an election he may not have been raising his hand on a tragic day in Dallas. Truly wild how history had its eyes on him by any means necessary.
Caro pretty much proves Lyndon Johnson's theft of the 1948 Texas senatorial election. But he seems to discount the efforts of other campaigns to steal elections, including Pappy O'Daniel's theft from Johnson (who made a tactical error in his own theft attempt), and Coke Stevenson's campaign efforts in 1948 (about which Stevenson may not have known).
To be sure, Johnson directed his campaigns and took the "block voting" strategy to new heights, so one way of looking at it is that he was just better at playing the game than others.
I very much appreciated the inclusion of an abbreviated biography of Coke Stevenson (much like Sam Rayburn in Path to Power), about whom I knew nothing despite my being from Texas and having taken a college course in Texas history. (Caro's characterization of Coke has been criticized as sanitized.)
I'm not sure that I agree with Caro's understanding of Texas geography, repeatedly assigning Alice and San Diego to "the valley" which by my reconning, doesn't begin till Raymondville (at the northernmost) some 100 miles south.
I'm looking forward to the next instalment.
To be sure, Johnson directed his campaigns and took the "block voting" strategy to new heights, so one way of looking at it is that he was just better at playing the game than others.
I very much appreciated the inclusion of an abbreviated biography of Coke Stevenson (much like Sam Rayburn in Path to Power), about whom I knew nothing despite my being from Texas and having taken a college course in Texas history. (Caro's characterization of Coke has been criticized as sanitized.)
I'm not sure that I agree with Caro's understanding of Texas geography, repeatedly assigning Alice and San Diego to "the valley" which by my reconning, doesn't begin till Raymondville (at the northernmost) some 100 miles south.
I'm looking forward to the next instalment.