Power Beyond Reason: The Mental Collapse of Lyndon Johnson

Rating:
Summary: a continuing exciting adventure
Review: Most professional mental health specialists would eschew diagnosing a pateint they have never met. That's what, to my understanding, this book purports to do; and while it is an interesting thesis, one has to wonder about the ethics of the work if that is indeed what the author is intending. (It might not be; I looked at a copy in the bookstore, since I have an extensive collection of LBJ books, and was wondering if this one was worth adding to it. It isn't.)

No one has ever maintained that Lyndon Johnson was just an ordinary guy. He was a driven man, to say the least, capable of working hours that would exhaust most people, and prone to illness whenever his political future was in doubt. I do not doubt that his Vietnam policies were a grave mistake -- nor did his mentor in the US Senate, Richard Russell. (see John Goldsmith's excellent volume on the two men, "Colleagues") And LBJ himself, as one of the tapes transcribed in the excellent work of Michael Beschloss, had serious doubts about the enterprise.

But the whole Vietnam experience can be attributed, not to some hypothetical diagnosis of mental illness of the presidfent at the time, but to the systemic mind-set of the nation's ruling class, a mind-set that, because of its presuppositions as to America's role in the world, could not but encourage greater US involvement in Southeast Asia. And therein lies the tragedy of Lyndon Johnson: for this man had the intelligence and foresight to see where such a mind-set was leading him, his country, and his beloved Great Society...and yet he could not do anything but pour in more and more troops.

The person wishing a balanced and professional portrait of the man who I am convinced would have been, but for that stupid war, our greatest president would be far wiser to consult Robert Caro (especially "Master of the Senate") and Doris Kearns Goodwin (if you want a psychological angle based in actual contact with the subject) than this book.

Rating:
Summary: Diagnosis from a Distance
Review: Most professional mental health specialists would eschew diagnosing a pateint they have never met. That's what, to my understanding, this book purports to do; and while it is an interesting thesis, one has to wonder about the ethics of the work if that is indeed what the author is intending. (It might not be; I looked at a copy in the bookstore, since I have an extensive collection of LBJ books, and was wondering if this one was worth adding to it. It isn't.)

No one has ever maintained that Lyndon Johnson was just an ordinary guy. He was a driven man, to say the least, capable of working hours that would exhaust most people, and prone to illness whenever his political future was in doubt. I do not doubt that his Vietnam policies were a grave mistake -- nor did his mentor in the US Senate, Richard Russell. (see John Goldsmith's excellent volume on the two men, "Colleagues") And LBJ himself, as one of the tapes transcribed in the excellent work of Michael Beschloss, had serious doubts about the enterprise.

But the whole Vietnam experience can be attributed, not to some hypothetical diagnosis of mental illness of the presidfent at the time, but to the systemic mind-set of the nation's ruling class, a mind-set that, because of its presuppositions as to America's role in the world, could not but encourage greater US involvement in Southeast Asia. And therein lies the tragedy of Lyndon Johnson: for this man had the intelligence and foresight to see where such a mind-set was leading him, his country, and his beloved Great Society...and yet he could not do anything but pour in more and more troops.

The person wishing a balanced and professional portrait of the man who I am convinced would have been, but for that stupid war, our greatest president would be far wiser to consult Robert Caro (especially "Master of the Senate") and Doris Kearns Goodwin (if you want a psychological angle based in actual contact with the subject) than this book.

Rating:
Summary: a continuing exciting adventure
Review: Was amazed to read the previous review from someone who obviusly never read it.
This book follows the two previously written books by the same author. The author reveals more about Lyndon Johnson than previous biographers have done. A must read for those of us who are concerned with the powers that the President possess and what can happen when one is affected by this disease. Strongly recommended in these uncertain times.

Rating:
Summary: READ THIS BOOK!!! NOW!
Review: We are in scary times and this book brings home one of the most impoortant issues facing our nuclear society, monitoring the president of the world's most powerful and heavily armed country... If the power of the presidents has scared you in the past, you will be a little more anxious after reading this review of the mental collapse of our past President, LBJ.
Who is watching out for Mr. Bush? Who is watching out for us?