The Path to Power (The Years of Lyndon Johnson, Volume 1)

Rating:
Summary: Brilliant but perhaps biased
Review: When you start reading this book two ideas pop into your head very quick. First Robert Caro weaves a wonderful, deep tale. Page upon page is filled with background material that makes not just Johnson come alive but also the people and places that surrounded and shaped him. The motivations of family, supporters and staff are usual examined and put into context. This is particularly true in the dozens of pages devoted to life in the early-century Texas Hill Country.

The other idea is that Caro doesn't like Johnson very much. The man presented is motivated only by a driving ambition to 'be somebody' and reach the top of the political ladder. Virtually every single action of the adult Johnson is driven by this ambition. The sole major exception is the coverage of his early, potentially career-ending, affair but Johnson's motivation in it is barely mentioned. It's possible this ambition is all there was to Johnson but that would make him more one-dimensional than anyone I know.