The Years of Lyndon Johnson 4 Volume Set: The Path to Power; Means of Ascent; Master of the Senate; The Passage of Power

Has the reputation of being one of the greatest political biographies of all time and with justification. Lots of background on the issues of the time which was very useful to a UK citizen, less steeped in, for example, the workings of the Senate. It makes you reflect on what it means to be a "good man". Johnson was power-hungry, manipulative, he "stole" his way into the Senate, and yet on many causes, particularly civil rights actually accomplished more than any politician.The fourth volume ends early 1964 just after Johnson has inherited the Presidency following Kennedy's assassination - can't wait for volume 5 although as I write no date is set and Caro is fed up with being asked when it will come.

This is a collection of the first four hardback books in the Robert Caro/Lyndon Johnson biographical books. The books are remarkable descriptions of Johnson (and American during Johnson's life). If you are remotely interested in Johnson or America's South during the 20th Century, this book is for you.My one grumble would be how they're presented. If you look look at these "sets" by H L Menkin at: H.L. Mencken: Prejudices: The Complete Series (Library of America) or Edmund Morris' at: Edmund Morris's Theodore Roosevelt Trilogy Bundle: The Rise of Theodore Roosevelt, Theodore Rex, and Colonel Roosevelt they are presented well because they're boxed, making them nice gifts. That can't be said about this set. This shouldn't be a surprise, because the series hasn't finished yet. If you're thinking about giving this series as a present, I'd wait till the series had finished.

The series is a pleasure to read and the writer is absolutely fantastic. I hope the author lives long enough to finish the series.

Recommended to anyone interested in twentieth century US politics. Authoritative, exhaustive and surprisingly entertaining. excellent research and notes on sources.

Simply magnificent. These volumes are part of an extraordinary magnum opus on the enigma that was Lyndon Johnson, a political genius and a ruthlessly ambitious man. He was not without high principles but they were always overridden by his determination to get to the top. Read all these volumes and you well get up the the very start of his presidency and just hope the author, now in his 80s lives, to complete one of the great political biographies of all time. It is not a page too long.Johnson was brought up in the most degrading conditions of poverty and shame and survived through sheer grit and the ability to manipulate, humiliate and ingratiate. Finally he attained the ultimate office. Great men do not have to be good men. This depiction of power is mesmerizing. It is the classic American dream and the classic American Tragedy. Poor boy through ruthless determination attains the height of power, and then one great political error, not personal fault, the Vietnam war tarnishes forever what should have been one of the most significant presidencies.Caro's interest in Johnson is all about power and the use of power to get things done. He admires as much as deplores. Bad men can do great things, as well as bad ones.The same theme can be seen in his earlier masterpiece The Power broker, about Robert Moses. Moses was a truly vile human being , cruel, arrogant, racist, selfish. Yet in his early years with all of those traits on display, after he had discarded his old idealism which had achieved nothing, he did what no other could, providing parks and parkways on Long Island, transformed Central Park on Manhattan and built the stupendous Triborough Bridge. He did so in record time when nothing had been done, or what little had been done had been done badly, for years. It took an autocrat to do all this. Yet he too over-reached himself, and like Johnson, had to be stopped.Caro's subtle and compelling picture of how the pursuit of power tends to corrupt and how the attainment of absolute power corrupts absolutely, will never be bettered.