Rating: 
Summary: Excellent, superlative history
Review: I read both this first book by Robert Caro and his "Means of Ascent" (Vol. II) in the early 1990's, and loved both of them. (I intend to read his newest volume in the next few months).At that time I was very libertarian in my views, and still am. But his books helped educate me immensely about history -- some of which I had known but forgotten -- but mostly bringing fresh facts into my mind. Thus, the books helped prepare me for the more leftwing libertarian views of Noam Chomsky, Howard Zinn. et.al. whom I have come to love even more than the rightwing side of it (though I still love both)! What is truly exquisite about historians like Caro -- very rare jewels indeed -- is that they never spare anyone. That is, whether they're heaping praise on someone or "raking them over hot burning coals," they don't spare the person(s)involved, nor attempt to gloss over any of their actions. He thus presents a truly remarkably accurate picture, no matter how complex, even when the two opposite qualities of good and bad are intermixed in the same bizarre personality -- like they were in LBJ. While reading his book(s), I often ended up deploring LBJ on the one hand, yet oddly being unable to resist liking the "s-o-b" at the end. It wasn't that I looked any more kindly or forgivingly on his sins (or anyone else in the book, regardless of their political affiliations), but a strange admiration intermixed with this comes through. I think in the case of LBJ, part of this is because he worked unceasingly and tirelessly for his successive accomplishments of power and position, and that is perhaps at least "something." But this also proves that work isn't equivilent to morality or goodness -- in fact, it often can result in truly evil results as well as good. LBJ's saga -- as related by Caro -- demonstrates this perfectly, I think. LBJ was intensely ammoral and opportunistic, and Caro brings this out. It didn't matter if something was good or bad to him -- if it worked for his ambitions, he went with it regardless. LBJ thus comes across to me as being sadly very much a machine-like person, devoid of any real feelings or enobling emotions that could guide his political life. (I get the same feeling about most politicians -- actually, but usually in a less singular way. There is something oddly representative about LBJ, matched perhaps only by Nixon, in our contemporary society, that symbolizes the negatives -- with occassional positives -- about AMBITION and POWER, more so than any others.) To convey one item which I think represents for me just how beautifully instructive Caro's biography is, and how comprehensive, I would have to bring up Caro's mentioning of Calvin Coolidge's duplicity in regard to tariffs. Caro discusses in great detail the early populist movement among the sharecroppers in the Southeast US (including the Hill Country in Texas, where LBJ was from), and how they desperately needed protective tariffs so they could sell they crops for a sustainable price. Well, Mr. Coolidge refused to sign a tariff bill into law that would help them, claiming it was against the principle of "laizze faire," yet -- as Caro then points out -- Coolidge then signed a bill raising the tariff on pig iron by 50% -- ON THE SAME DAY! ON THE BLOODY SAME DAY!!!! One thinks, "What an ass!" (One also thinks of the so-called "free-trade" of today. Nicaragua faces ((for example)) a tariff three times higher when trying to sell their products here in the U. S. than the one the WTO, World Bank, GATT, NAFTA etc. force them to set for products coming in from the United States ((In other words, there is little "free trade" in current "free trade"!)) Or one could bring up Haiti, or Mexico, or Ghana etc. etc. etc. ((This same duplicity is revealed in these international institutions forcing so-called "free market reforms" on these poor countries, such as making their respective governments eliminate subsidies for agriculture -- and then forcing these same countries to accept the same crops, that they used to grow themselves, from countries like the United States, where their cultivation is still heavily subsidized. These are such blatant and damnable double standards that it stuns the mind. And yet, it also reminds one of Coolidge and LBJ,and their double standards!)) This item (about Coolidge), and many others, constantly reassure the reader that he's not reading some partisan-driven diatribe or expose' on "just the democrats," or "just the republicans." Far from it!! One is seeing what is there, in all its ugliness, regardless of "which side" the person(s) are "on." It was just such horrible political duplicity and betrayal that Caro is so good at describing and detailing, without any rancor or partisan nonsense. He does the same when exposing his main subject, LBJ, of course, and many others. God bless him, and his wife (who did a lot of the research for this book, I understand -- and this is partly because Caro doesn't trust anyone else! I don't blame him!) I hope that Caro's upcoming volumes with LBJ's presidency help bring to light such crimes as the May 1965 invasion of the Dominican Republic, order by LBJ, by the "Organization of American States," which removed the democratically elected President Juan Bosch, and how this invasion was tied to the financial interests of several of LBJ's closest and richest friends, like Abe Fortas, J. M Kaplan, and Adolf Berle. Lastly, it was fun to finally see -- a few days ago (Sept. 2003) -- a C-Span program on Caro. He came across as a truly sweet and intelligent man -- with an intelligent and sweet wife! God bless them both! And may they live extremely happy, successful, rich lives, exuding and radiating integrity in all directions simultaneously!
Rating:
Summary: Buy this book now
Review: When the Washington Post called The Path to Power a book "of radiant excellence...at the summit of historical writing..." it was an understatement. The Path to Power is the most outstanding, compelling, fascinating and meticulously researched book I have ever read. From the Comanche Indians of the Hill Country to Johnson's life as a Cotulla schoolteacher to his complex relationship with the Speaker of the House Sam Rayburn, this book delivers. Lyndon Johnson is clearly the most complex, interesting, and powerful politician of our lifetime. This book clearly exposes Johnson's unrivaled ambition to acquire greater power and prestige. Be prepared for one thing: From the moment you begin reading it, you'll be up all night until you've come to the last page. The book moves very quickly with the same fast pace as Lyndon's life. Caro carefully disects each aspect of Lyndon's complex personality. His successes, failures, tantrums, and even his willingness to rig a college election come into play. You might as well buy the next two volumes: Means of Ascent and Master of the Senate. Caro keeps you begging for more. This is the biography that all others must hope to equal.
Rating:
Summary: Fascinating Read
Review: Mr. Caro has given us a fascinating look into the early, formative years of Lyndon Johnson's life. He takes from his birth to his unsuccessful run for the U.S. Senate. He explores his Hill Country roots, his extreme poverty, his driven approach to politics, his relationship with Sam Rayburn and much, much more. It reads like a finely crafted novel.
Rating:
Summary: Exhaustive yet not exhausting to read
Review: Caro's biography of Robert Moses was the first 1,000+ page book I ever read. It's hard to believe this guy can put so many words into a biography and still keep it riveting. The Path to Power is just that: riveting. I read it in two days (Saturday and Sunday, that is.) I highly recommend it, especially to those who think LBJ is not such an interesting subject. I didn't think so, either, before I read this book.
Rating:
Summary: incredible depth
Review: This is a well written, well researched biography, and Robert Caro will be the first person to tell you so. In fact, he does tell you...right in the biography. It is actually a fairly effective technique. Caro points out the flaws and problems with other Johnson biographies and thus justifies the need and superiority of his own first volume. This is the first volume in what was projected to be a 3 volume set (and now appears to be at least 4). This volume follows Johnson from childhood up to his failed first run for the U.S. Senate in 1941. This biography has an abundance of detail, so much so that it is easy to forget that you are reading a biography and think that you are reading a novel. The story is that compelling and i got wrapped up in it. We see the circumstances of the formative years of a man who would later become President of the United States. We are presented with the two primary facets of Lyndon Johnson's personality. We see a master politician able to gain the power to further his own aims and increase his sphere of influence. We see this master politician serve the needs of his constituency, getting benefits for veterans, bring affordable electricity to rural Texas for the very first time, helping legislation pass to get a dam built. Lyndon Johnson did a lot of good. He could almost be admired if he wasn't such a horrible person. To start with, Lyndon Johnson treated ... anyone whose help he did not need [poorly]. He was ... dishonest, even for a politician. ... He is a man who craved nothing but personal power and had the ambition and lack of personal morality to get it. If Lyndon Johnson was not the center of attention, he simply did not care to participate. Yet, he had a person magnetism that drew people to him and inspired loyalty in those he humiliated and drove relentlessly. He was an interesting person and I look forward to reading further volumes of Caro's biography. I would just never want the man in my life.
Rating:
Summary: Understanding power . . .
Review: I avoided this series for years because, as a Texan, I had plenty of exposure to LBJ during my lifetime. I always considered him with mixed emotions, there being so much good and so much bad in his political record. Caro writes about power, not about Lyndon Johnson. Johnson is the subject in the sense that a microbe is the subject of a biologist's report on a disease or a life function. And I think the latter example--life function--is probably more apt. Power is essential to the body politic. And it requires special gifts to make a career of its acquisition and use. Caro studies power in this way. And Johnson is a perfect study. A fascinating book and very highly recommended.
Rating: 
Summary: Caro, a good writer but a horrible biographer
Review: Lyndon Johnson is, to my mind, one of the most interesting figures of the past century. This isn't only because of his huge historical importance but also because of his many contradictions. He used racist epithets in private and fillibustered against civil rights bills, but on the other hand he was one of the few southern congressmen who didn't sign Thurmond's "Southern Manifesto" (at tremendous political risk to himself) and as president went farther on civil rights than even Kennedy wanted to go, even though he knew that doing so was political suicide in the south. He was often a political opportunist and had a sadistic streak, but he could be selfless and noble too. For instance he saved thousands of European Jews from the Nazis by helping them to get passports to South American countries, even though there was nothing to be gained politically by doing so. He was often mean and condescending to his wife, but he obviously respected her and took her advice seriously. In fact he promoted legislation she had written, and it was on her advice that he finally gave up his reelection bid. He got us into Vietnam against his better judgment but he did it out of a sense of duty and he had trouble sleeping because he felt responsible for the Americans who might lose their lives. Any good biography of LBJ would have to be written by someone who was comfortable with contradiction and ambiguity, and Caro isn't. In Caro's world there's good and bad and no gray space in between, where Johnson was a complex tragic figure Caro is determined to give us a cardboard cut out villian. It's as if he's been given Richard II but is determined to have Richard III, no matter how much he must cut. In doing so Caro shows no principled restraint or respect for the facts. The good Johnson did is ignored, downplayed, or given the worst possible spin, whereas he lingers on even the most minor transgressions. Worse, Caro doesn't hesitate to tell us exactly what Johnson was thinking, not what he thinks Johnson was thinking or what Johnson must have been thinking mind you, but what Caro the psychic biographer knows Johnson was thinking, and according to Caro those thoughts were almost always nasty. In doing so he treats LBJ as if he were his own literary invention, which is the worst sin a biographer can commit. All this is somewhat redeemed by Caro's writing, which is wonderful I must say, and even though he shows less respect for the truth than does Dallek his work is more readable. However, anyone really interested in LBJ would do better to check out Dallek's drier but more accurate biography, the recently released White House tapes edited by Beschloss, or even David Foster Wallace's fictional account of Johnson.
Rating:
Summary: Great Book
Review: Five stars does not do this book justice. Robert Caro's Path to Power is one of the best books I have ever read. Combining soaring prose with meticulous research, Mr. Caro paints a vivid picture of Lyndon Johnson, his contemporaries, and the places they called home, from Blanco County in the Texas Hill Country to the Dodge Hotel in Washington D.C. LBJ's family is also discussed in great deal, particularly his father, Sam Johnson, a worthy politico in his own right. Throughout the book, we see the dual nature of LBJ, from his genuine concern for Mexican students in Cotulla to his double dealing in Congress. No details are spared in this wonderful biography. Read it, and pass it along to your friends.
Rating:
Summary: Great book about a slimy man
Review: I had no interest in spending many evenings reading about the life of Lyndon Johnson, a despicable human being. However, after being blown away by "The Power Broker," I finally decided I had to read Caro's other magnum opus. Turns out that, like "The Power Broker," this volume is researched in thorough detail, and written with great style. The book paints its subjects -- Texas before the depression, the nature of powerful men -- with the broadest possible brush, so that the book is not just about Lyndon Johnson; it's about our country, our system of government. Definitely a worthwhile read.
Rating: 
Summary: masterful snythesis of biography and history
Review: The brilliance of this book I believe rests in how it manages to tell the story of American politics along with the personal story of LBJ. Even someone as capable of Dumas Malone couldnt achieve such synthesis in his six volumes on Thomas Jefferson. We see in Caro's first volume the centralization of campaign financing (LBJ headed the Demo's 1938 election fund in a crucial year that probably saved FDR), the escalation of big business's love for government funded projects (highlighted by an unbelievable tale concerning a dam project that propelled LBJ to Congress), and the inside workings of the New Deal (LBJ was sharp enough despite a "third rate education" to have cocktails with the brilliant New Deal minds yet in the same night convince old-style Texas Demos he thought the New Deal was a communist sub-plot). Caro combines a lyrical voice on par with Shelby Foote and David McCullough with an analytical dagger Daniel Boorstin would admire.
In short, I would highly recommend this piece to anyone who wants to learn about LBJ and the path of American history in the early 20th century.
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