“[I]n writing ‘LBJ: Architect of American Ambition,’ Woods has produced an excellent biography that fully deserves a place alongside the best of the Johnson studies yet to appear. He is more sympathetic and nuanced than Caro, more fluid and (despite the significant length of his book) more concise than Dallek — and equally scrupulous in his use of archives and existing scholarship. Even readers familiar with the many other fine books on Johnson will learn a great deal from Woods.” Columbia’s Alan Brinkley (also my advisor) takes a gander at Randall Wood’s new biography of Lyndon Johnson.
Tag: Robert Caro
Checks and Balances.
While battle lines get drawn over possible Supreme Court vacancies at the end of the month, Timothy Noah makes the case for eliminating the filibuster using Robert Caro’s Masters of the Senate. His logic seems sound, but perhaps it’d be best to wait until at least the fall…
Means of Descent.
Grad students and history lovers take note: Plight of the Reluctant has devised the altogether fiendish Robert Caro drinking game. “Drink once if Caro describes Lyndon Johnson’s stride…Drink once if LBJ’s weight or face is mentioned,” etc., etc. Thank goodness I was unaware of this amusement while slogging through The Power Broker.
Larger than life.
Also in TNR (it seems the links are coming in pairs today), Nicholas Lemann critiques Robert Caro and Master of the Senate, the third volume in his LBJ series.