Rating: 
Summary: the gold standard for biographies
Review: I think that I read this book right after I took a "history through biography" class in college. I remember the professor gave us a list of questions that we should keep in mind while reading every biography. The most important ones were regarding how the time and place of a person's upbringing affected their lives. Well, Robert Caro nails just about any questions anybody could have about the influences of past family and regional history on Lyndon Johnson. He explains the unique influence of the Texas Hill country on the people who live there, and the family history of Johnson's mother and father. If you ever want to examine the incredible drive and ambition required to rise out of humble beginnings to become the most powerful man in America, this book is highly recommended. Can't wait until the next volume is published!
Rating:
Summary: Outstanding insight into the early life of LBJ.
Review: Many people might be put off by the fact that this book weighs in at close to 800 pages and yet only covers the early years of LBJ up to 1941. This should not, however, really deter people from reading this fascinating insight into LBJ's early life. Caro has written an incredibly detailed, insightful and readable biography of Lyndon Johnson. I was left with a very vivid portrait of what drove this man and, even though Caro has yet to publish the volumes relating to LBJ's time in the Senate, the Vice-Presidency and the Presidency, readers will already see a theme developing in the book.Lyndon Johnson was a complex figure driven by a lust for power and influence and the stories which Caro portrays of his early political machinations in college, as a Congressional aide, as an official in the New Deal NYA and, finally, as a junior Congressman are fascinating and, in many cases, shocking. I never felt that the book dragged or spent too much time on a particular issue or event. Caro also spends considerable time providing the reader with background to the events, people and locations who played a role in Johnson's life (his description of life in the Texas Hill Country is particularly fascinating) and this adds to the book's impact. Caro's biography of LBJ is excellent in every way and I have no hesitation in giving it a 5 star recommendation.
Rating: 
Summary: Scum peeled up and looked at close
Review: All that keeps this from being among the very top rank of biographies is Caro does not trot out everything he knows for sure. He is too protective of Lady Bird and Johnson's children and the children of the rich pro who was his doxie for a few years, all of which means more of the story remains to be told. Having noted that let me say that at this time no more accurate portrait exists today of the early years of the ignorant and brutal force of nature whose personal deficiencies broke the back of Americans' faith in the presidency. This book explains how a pathological liar, bully and cheat brought the term "credibility gap" into the nation's consciousness from the office of the presidency. This is the story of a mama's boy, a spoiled child who never met a real man he didn't fear, a man whose associates at college nicknamed him "Bull" (short for "Bulls--t") because they knew him to be a liar of pathological proportions, and a man who surrounded himself with weak sychophants because strong men and strong women loathed him as much as he feared them. This is the story of a man who abused his wife early and often, including taking up with a woman similar to him, a woman who produced children for a wealthy married man to insulate her from the street. This is the story of a man who spent nearly a dozen years in congress without making an important speech or introducing a dozen pieces of legislation. This is the story of a twisted man whose sheer energy combined with the stupidity of some of his cohort and the greed of the rest of it to propel him away from his home and onto the national scene at a young age, and how his skills at manipulating and lying kept him afloat in the Washington Cesspool through 1941. This book ends at the start of World War Two, some months after Johnson loses his first senate bid to a reactionary fool with a radio show and a western swing band, with Johnson scheming to find ways to get credit for frontline military service without actually doing it. This is a fine read and one all school children should read by ninth or tenth grade to gain proper perspective into a man who has been whitewashed by history.
Rating:
Summary: you may like Johnson less after this, but he still amazes
Review: I doubt that anyone has ever delved into a biography of anyone as deeply as Caro has done. This volume, which covers Johnson to his first failed Senate campaign (to an early talk radio host), is simply the most spellbinding and detailed bio I have ever read, utterly rivetting as Caro explores Texas and then national politics of a bygone era. It is nothing short of the story of a political genius, who rose from nothing on his wits and energy and who had a good side and a dark side. You feel that the full complexity of the man is contained within, from his bombast and cowardice to his uncanny ability to cultivate power and use his office to advance himself. It is funny, sad, and the grandest political tableau that has ever been painted I think. YOu get wonderful flashes of his bravado and humor - "looks like old jumbo here needs a little exercise," he tells his brother when emerging from a shower - as well as insight into the issues and governmental methods of the time. There is love (a mistress), disappointment (his loss), abuse (his father and his aides, who had to meet with him while he was on the toilet, etc.), and true caring (for his constituents). If there is any problem, it is that so many threads are unravelled that many of them have to be dropped midway, never to be taken up again. But then, that is what books should do: make you want to search for more. And it is projected to reach 5 volumes. One of the best books I ever read.
Rating:
Summary: Great book for history buffs!
Review: An interesting and enlightening study of the early life of a man who defines dirty politics, dirty tricks, and dirty money. This biography brings all the great depression-era politicians to life and I would recommend it to anyone that enjoys history. After reading this though, it will smash any favorable impression you had of Lyndon Johnson.
Rating:
Summary: Best Biography ever
Review: This is the best biography that I have ever read. It covers Lydon Johnson's early life up to his decision to enlist in 1941after losing an election for the senate in Texas. The portrait of Johnson could be called a warts and all portrait all thought it consists mainly of warts. The author has spoken to everyone who knew Johnson and has not hesitated in recording every negative thing that he ever did. The book outlines his boasting as a young man, his unctuousness and his greed and ambition. The story of the young Johnson is very much like the movie "Revenge of the Nerds". He was a person who was ungainly and in the normal course of things a person who would be rejected by most people. Through hard work and greasing he forged a political career. The book however is not only about him. It is a portrait of politics in Texas at the time of his growing up. The book is full of rich characters such as "Pappy O'Daniel" who started out as a country singer and went on to become a governor after the success of his radio show. The description of the normal farm tasks carried out by women prior to electrification and the importance of electricity in improving the daily life of ordinary people is one of the most moving and impressive that has been written. This book reads like and a novel and you can't put it down. It is also strange that Johnson a person who appears to be totally without principal or moral character is the President who made the most courageous decision of any presidents. He ended the Jim Crow system in the south, something which led to the end of democratic domination in that area and the rise of the republicans. It was a decision which had no political gain and seems to have been made simply because it was right. All in all a great book and one that cannot be recommended to highly.
Rating:
Summary: A Time Machine to the Early 20th Century
Review: This is more than a biography, Caro manages to capture a place and time long gone to history. He tells you about JBL by telling you about the world that he came from - and you get to meet the people and places that made the man. His portraits of his father, Lady Bird and Sam Rayburn are touching - and bittersweet. Caro never makes JBL out to be a saint, but he makes a future President very human - and shows what is amazing about America. This book is never a job to read - there isn't a dull page in the entire volume. He brings history to life, so that you feel you know JBL as if you were in his inner circle of friends or family. You can taste the dust of Texas in your mouth.
Rating:
Summary: OUTSTANDING BIOGRAPHY
Review: THIS IS BY THE BEST POLITICAL/HISTORICAL BIOGRAPHY I'VE READ SINCE TRUMAN.
Rating:
Summary: OUTSTANDING WORK OF AMERICAN HISTORY
Review: An unprecdedented work of scholarship by Robert Caro. He gives us a masterly and detailed account of Johnson country as it was before the birth of the future President and LBJ's early years. His relationship with FDR while a young congressman was a revelation to me and made the history of that period all the more profound. With Johnson there's always two sides- the bright and the dark. Caro takes us down a path showing us both sides evenly and fairly, to this man's complicated personality. My understanding of America is all the more greater after reading Caro's work.
Rating:
Summary: The Zenith of Biographical Writing
Review: Thank God for Robert Caro, who is a brilliant researcher, complier of facts and an outstanding writer. His way with words is leagues ahead of other historical biographers, he writes with the flair of a novelist but he backs up his words with years of dilligent research. What other biographer pulls up stakes and lives for *five years* in the Texas hill country in order to better understand his subject? This first volume stands at the pinnacle of the biographical art. Many have criticized Caro (John Connelly most vociferously) for being overly critical of Johnson. I share this concern and feel he sometimes bends over backwards to "stick it to" Johnson. Caro has said repeatedly that he will deal with LBJ's Presidency with a more charitible outlook and this is to be hoped. I am an unabashed fan of Lyndon Johnson and this will stand as the definitive biography of him for many years. Though it's caustic and critical, it's so beautifully written you can read it again and again. A masterpiece of biography.
| 
