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Rating: 
Summary: Skip this one!
Review: Dalleck is a third rate historian who has produced a poorly-written, pro-LBJ screed that provides almost new information. Read Robert Caro and learn the truth.
Rating: 
Summary: Not as good as volume one
Review: I admire Dalleck and think he's an able historian, but volume two is leagues inferior to volume one, "Lone Star Rising." Dalleck glosses over LBJ's Vice Presidential years in twenty pages and reveals little new material from the early 1960's. His treatment of the JFJ-LBJ political and personal relationship also is lacking. Robert Caro is writing the definitive treatment of LBJ and Caro is a more accomplished writer, but Dalleck at least cuts Johnson a break and sees the good in this flawed giant. Dalleck is particularly good at illuminating the Great Society and Johnson's sweeping social programs. His military treatment of Vietnam is hardly penetrating. This is an adequate book on Johnson as President, but not as gripping as the initial volume.
Rating:
Summary: Sympathetic but the Fairest work on LBJ
Review: LBJ, a very complex and contrdictory man, is often remembered for the failings of the Great Society and is often blamed for U.S. involvement in Vietnam. Thus, him and Richard Nixon have unfairly become the scapegoats of an entire generation. One thing that I deeply admire about Johnson was his partiotism but, unfortunately, his partiotism and his idealism were not a good mix. It was a noble gesture to try and end poverty and fight a limited war at the same time, but economically and socially, it was just not feasible. His policy of "Guns" and "Butter" drove the United States into domestic chaos and shattered the economy to an extent that it is still suffering from the Johnson years. My main criticism of Dallek would be the fact that he downplayed Johnson's patriotism and belief that Vietnam was a just cause. After McGovern won the party's nomination in 1972, Johnson became somewhat disillusioned with the party and continued to support Nixon in the war. There is little emphasis on the fact that Vietnam was a just war, but the Johnson administration, composed of JFK's elite advisors, manhandled the war in such a way that the national will never was able to recover and thousands of people were lost because of those blunders. Other than the aforementioned criticisms, 'Flawed Giant' is the most definitive work on Johnson and is recommended to and student of U.S. History.
Rating:
Summary: Sympathetic but the Fairest work on LBJ
Review: LBJ, a very complex and contrdictory man, is often remembered for the failings of the Great Society and is often blamed for U.S. involvement in Vietnam. Thus, him and Richard Nixon have unfairly become the scapegoats of an entire generation. One thing that I deeply admire about Johnson was his partiotism but, unfortunately, his partiotism and his idealism were not a good mix. It was a noble gesture to try and end poverty and fight a limited war at the same time, but economically and socially, it was just not feasible. His policy of "Guns" and "Butter" drove the United States into domestic chaos and shattered the economy to an extent that it is still suffering from the Johnson years. My main criticism of Dallek would be the fact that he downplayed Johnson's patriotism and belief that Vietnam was a just cause. After McGovern won the party's nomination in 1972, Johnson became somewhat disillusioned with the party and continued to support Nixon in the war. There is little emphasis on the fact that Vietnam was a just war, but the Johnson administration, composed of JFK's elite advisors, manhandled the war in such a way that the national will never was able to recover and thousands of people were lost because of those blunders. Other than the aforementioned criticisms, 'Flawed Giant' is the most definitive work on Johnson and is recommended to and student of U.S. History.
Rating: 
Summary: GOOD CONCLUSION TO A GOOD BIOGRAPHY
Review: Mr. Dallek has concluded his work addressing Lyndon Johnson and this years with this volume which covers the period of 1961 through 1973 which covers his presidency. As with the first volume, the author is far more sympathetic with this complex man than most of his recent biographers. It is my personal feeling, that Caro's work is better, but it is a good thing to read these two volumes by Dallek to get a more ballanced view. This was a difficult time in our history and Johnson and his contemporaries were difficult men (and women) to understand and judge. As with any story, we owe it to ourselves to examine all issues from as many angles as possible. Mr. Dallek has given us just one more of those angles. The book is well written and appears to have been well researched. I am glad I added this one to my Johnson collection and do recommend it.
Rating: 
Summary: Definitive Johnson
Review: Robert Dallek's concluding volume on Lyndon Johnson completes what is to date the definitive biographical account of Johnson's life. Flawed Giant primarily deals with Johnson's Presidential years and is a bit more sober in tone than the lyrical Lone Stare Rising. But Dallek provides a fresh look at the difficult decisions facing a conflicted man with absorbing detail. This is no small feat, as the events of Johnson's life from 1961 to 1973 have been picked apart by biographers, historians and journalist again and again. It is unfortunate that the middlebrow, popular accounts of Johnson's life by Robert Caro have received so much attention. The result has been that serious biography on this subject has not been given it's day in the sun. I should note that Robert Dallek's comments about Mr. Caro have been much kinder to the popular writer than mine. Flawed Giant is a must read for those interested in American history and politics.
Rating:
Summary: Definitive Johnson
Review: Robert Dallek's concluding volume on Lyndon Johnson completes what is to date the definitive biographical account of Johnson's life. Flawed Giant primarily deals with Johnson's Presidential years and is a bit more sober in tone than the lyrical Lone Stare Rising. But Dallek provides a fresh look at the difficult decisions facing a conflicted man with absorbing detail. This is no small feat, as the events of Johnson's life from 1961 to 1973 have been picked apart by biographers, historians and journalist again and again. It is unfortunate that the middlebrow, popular accounts of Johnson's life by Robert Caro have received so much attention. The result has been that serious biography on this subject has not been given it's day in the sun. I should note that Robert Dallek's comments about Mr. Caro have been much kinder to the popular writer than mine. Flawed Giant is a must read for those interested in American history and politics.
Rating:
Summary: A terrific, complete account of LBJ's presidency
Review: This book is a very good account of LBJ's formidable years, from his ascendancy to the vice presidency in 1960 (a position which he hated) to his swearing in aboard Air Force One hours after JFK's assassination through the end of his administration and subsequent death in 1973. However, it would have been nice to have more on LBJ's years as vice president in this book, particularly because LBJ hated being second fiddle so much.
However, Dallek, a superb historian, doesn't disappoint in "Flawed Giant," where he offers up plenty of details about Johnson's personal torture that was Vietnam, and also LBJ's personal passions - civil rights and his beloved Great Society. Dallek does a good job of describing what could aptly be termed the 2 LBJs - the indecisive one whose foreign policy decisions were often disastrous, including the Dominican Republic, Vietnam and North Korea; and the truly compassionate one who cared about people of color and those less fortunate with his Great Society and civil rights legislative successes.
I have to confess to not reading "Lone Star Rising," Dallek's part one on LBJ's life. I wanted to skip to LBJ's presidential years, but based on Dallek's reputation and another work of his which I have read "The Unfinished Presidency, John F. Kennedy," Dallek's fantastic book on JFK, I would recommend "Lone Star Rising" in a second.
It's important to note that Dallek isn't an LBJ cheerleader - he writes equal parts good and bad about a man not easily understood or described. Until Robert Caro finishes his fourth installment on LBJ (part 4 is on LBJ's presidency), "Flawed Giant" is probably one of the best accounts on the Johnson presidency. Also worth a look: Dallek's one-volume account on LBJ's life from start to finish, "Lyndon B. Johnson: Portrait of a President." However, one-volume accounts of a president tend to skim too much and offer too little detail, such as Ambrose's "Eisenhower: Soldier and President."
Rating:
Summary: An excellent biography of a complex president.
Review: This is the second volume of a two-volume biography; the first is "Lone Star Rising", which covers Johnson's life up until his run for the vice-presidency with JFK; this volume covers his years as vice president, president, and his short retirement. Dallek does a very good job of showing both the positives and the negatives of a man who he demonstrates clearly deserves the title of the book. Johnson is unquestionably a giant of American history; his domestic accomplishments, most notably pushing the Civil Rights Act through congress (something that few other men could have accomplished in the same position, given that Johnson had more influence with southern politicians who were inclined to oppose the act than most liberal democrats at the time) are certainly undeniable. Yet his flaws were spectacular too, notably his handling of the Vietnam war; it isn't just that he escalated the war from a minor, we-had-a-few-advisors-over-there situation to a situation in which thousands of Americans were dying; it isn't just that he refused to pull out when it became apparent that we weren't going to win the war anytime soon, and that Americans by and large didn't support the cost in lives of staying the course. It's that he lied repeatedly about our prospects there in order to build support for something that he knew perfectly well people wouldn't support if they knew the truth, and that he became downright paranoid on the subject, considering anyone who disagreed with him on it to be a "commie dupe" and a "traitor". It's that he subtly undercut the presidential campaign of Hubert Humphrey, his own vice-president and the man most likely to continue his domestic policies, in favor of Richard Nixon, because Nixon's stance on Vietnam seemed more in keeping with his own. Dallek does an excellent job of detailing all of this, and having read this book, I am both more aware of the good Johnson did, and more aware of the reasons why, prior to reading this book, I did not credit his presidency for that good; all I knew prior to reading this book was the negative side of the story, and not even all of that.
Rating:
Summary: Skip this one!
Review: Unlike some other reviewers, I was not disappointed by this sequel to Lone Star Rising. LBJ was so complex, and so was his Presidency. I've read many books on him and often get the impression given by the parable of the elephant and the three blind men: each writer gives a part of the description of the 'elephant' that was Johnson, but no real complete picture. Mr. Dallek comes closer, in my opinion, to representing the complete picture of Johnson and his Presidency, than others. I've always viewed Johnson in the same mold as FDR, in terms of scope of personality and ability to place a personal stamp on his Presidency. Both mean had such great assets and achievements, and both had great shortcomings. The difference that comes to mind immediately is Johnson's lack of confidence in many judgments and life-long lack of self-confidence; this is well-illustrated in this book. Unlike Roosevelt, Johnson lacked the ability to disguise his motives and emotions in an ongoing manner. Like other reviewers, I only wish there had been greater coverage of Johnson's Vice-Presidential years. I've never read any detailed history of this period in Johnson's life, other than the feuding with the Kennedy clan. There's probably a book here for someone willing to spend the time and effort. Dallek's writing is much more balanced than the books by Caro, and I think history will prove them of greater value.
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