Acclaim for Caro’s THE PATH TO POWER
“What a marvelous book! A work of majesty, perhaps unequalled in American political biography. The scope of its research and the sheer effort invested in unearthing facts are awesome. ”
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“Engrossing and revealing. … This fascinating, immensely long and highly readable book is the fullest account we have—and are ever likely to have—of the early years of Lyndon Baines Johnson. ”
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“A brilliant and necessary book. There are whole and fascinating areas in Johnson’s life that no one else discovered. ”
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“Caro’s narrative never stumbles, his prose never flattens. The lengthy sketches of supporting players, like Sam Rayburn, are masterly in themselves. And the secret love affairs, cash stuffed envelopes and other reportorial hand grenades seem to come remarkably often for so long a book on so familiar a subject. ”
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“Not only is the book an engrossing biographical introduction to our most devious of Presidents, but it is also a brilliant sociological study of Texas and of American politics. ”
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“The blunt fact is that a masterpiece of biography is being added to American literature. For sheer scale, energy and artistry in capturing a man’s life, nothing approaches it. ”
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“Outsized and overwhelming. Splendid and moving. Caro presents him so close we can feel him. There are two more volumes to come, which means that at this rate Caro’s work will eventually acquire Gibbon-like dimensions, Gibbon-like thoroughness too, and Gibbon-like passion. … Caro is using Johnson as a focus and symbol for a historical turning point that goes beyond the individual.
Caro is a phenomenon. He is an artful writer, with a remarkable power to evoke and characterize politicians, landscapes, relationships; with the ability to convey all manner of experiences. This massive book is almost continuously exciting. … It is a tour de force at the very least; eventually, it may come to be the base of a monument. ”—
“The major biography of recent years. Brilliant. Magisterial. A stunning accomplishment of documentation and narrative. Robert Caro has given us an American life of compelling fascination. The book is a benchmark beside which other biographies will be measured for some time to come. ”
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“Superb. ”
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“An ineradicable likeness of an American giant. All previous accounts of our Presidents’ growing-up years seem scanty and uninformative by comparison. Caro has brought to life a young man so believable and unforgettable that we can hear his heartbeat and touch him. If an earlier famous Johnson had his Boswell, and Abraham Lincoln his Sandburg, LBJ has found a portraitist who similarly will owe his fame to his great subject and his certitude in taking control of it. ”