# Any readers of Robert Caro here? **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [June 7, 2014, 3:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/any-readers-of-robert-caro-here/690276 "2014-06-07T15:28:16Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 8\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![aldiboronti](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/9fc348/32.png) [@aldiboronti](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/aldiboronti)\ **Post date:** [June 7, 2014, 3:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/any-readers-of-robert-caro-here/690276/1 "2014-06-07T15:28:16Z")
I remember the first time I came across Caro. I was browsing the shelves of my local library in England when my eyes lit upon a huge volume entitled _The Years of Lyndon Johnson: The Path to Power_ by Robert Caro. This looks interesting, I thought. I had no idea then that this would be probably the greatest political biography I would read in my lifetime and that in 2014 I would still be anxiously awaiting the fifth and final volume of the work. I’ve just treated myself to the four volumes already published and I’m going to re-embark on one of the greatest reads of my life. From its beginnings in the Hill Country of Texas we follow Johnson as a child and young student. We watch him maturing, learning, developing what I am convinced was the sharpest political brain of the 20th century. The characters are incredible: Wilbert Lee “Pappy” O’Daniel, who owned the Hillbilly Flour Company, hosted a popular radio show, and on the strength of his fame became Governor of Texas and later junior Senator for the state, literally stealing the election from Johnson, who swore that he would never lose another. Coke Stevenson, “Mr Texas”, an upright and popular Governor of Texas who ran for McDaniel’s vacant Senate seat, his opponent being LBJ. The story of that campaign is as gripping as a novel, the election going down to the wire and eventually resting on the contents of Box 13 from Duval County, Texas. Stevenson had gone to court alleging voter fraud organized by LBJ and his minions. Finally the fabled box sat at the back of the courtroom, all eyes upon it. What would the contents reveal? We would never know. LBJ had been pulling strings in Austen and got the case stopped (shades of the Republicans in 2000!). Johnson became Senator and never looked back. I think my favourite volume is _Master of the Senate_, Vol 3. I don’t think that anybody in American history has known and understood the workings of the House and Senate like Johnson. It’s certain that Civil Rights legislation would never have made it past the Southern bloc of Senators without Johnson (who, of course, was one of them.) There’s never been a Senate Majority Leader (or Minority) like him and I doubt if there will ever be one so skilful again In my opinion Johnson’s work in getting the CV legislation through and the later Great Society far outweighs the burden he bears for Vietnam. So, any other Caro readers out there? ---
**Author:** ![PastTense](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/pasttense/32/14550_2.png) [@PastTense](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/PastTense)\ **Post date:** [June 7, 2014, 4:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/any-readers-of-robert-caro-here/690276/2 "2014-06-07T16:59:24Z")
I liked his biography of Robert Moses: The Power Broker: Robert Moses and the Fall of New York > **[The Power Broker: Robert Moses and the Fall of New York: Caro, Robert A.:...](https://www.amazon.com/Power-Broker-Robert-Moses-Fall/dp/0394720245)** > > The Power Broker: Robert Moses and the Fall of New York \[Caro, Robert A.\] on Amazon.com. \*FREE\* shipping on qualifying offers. The Power Broker: Robert Moses and the Fall of New York In case you are not familiar with the name: Robert Moses (December 18, 1888 – July 29, 1981) was the “master builder” of mid-20th century New York City, Long Island, Rockland County, and Westchester County, New York. As the shaper of a modern city, he is sometimes compared to Baron Haussmann of Second Empire Paris, and was arguably one of the most polarizing figures in the history of urban planning in the United States. His decisions favoring highways over public transit helped create the modern suburbs of Long Island and influenced a generation of engineers, architects, and urban planners who spread his philosophies across the nation. One of his major contributions to urban planning was New York’s large parkway network. > **[Robert Moses](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Robert_moses)** > > Robert Moses (December 18, 1888 – July 29, 1981) was an American urban planner and public official who worked in the New York metropolitan area during the early to mid 20th century. Despite never being elected to any office, Moses is regarded as one of the most powerful and influential individuals in the history of New York City and New York State. The grand scale of his infrastructural projects and his philosophy of urban development influenced a generation of engineers, architects, and urban ... ---
**Author:** ![Mean\_Mr.Mustard](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mean_mr.mustard/32/3865_2.png) [@Mean\_Mr.Mustard](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mean_Mr.Mustard)\ **Post date:** [June 7, 2014, 9:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/any-readers-of-robert-caro-here/690276/3 "2014-06-07T21:36:14Z")
I read, and enjoyed, the first two LBJs. I’m pausing to take a breath before reading the others. Caro’s biographies are the very definition of _thorough_, but I did find them a bit repetitive at times. mmm ETA: The story of the stolen election would make a hell of a movie in the right hands. ---
**Author:** ![Ignatz](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/3be4f8/32.png) [@Ignatz](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ignatz)\ **Post date:** [June 10, 2014, 2:46am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/any-readers-of-robert-caro-here/690276/4 "2014-06-10T02:46:32Z")
I too have pored over \*The Power Broker \*and wrote a term paper on that Robert Moses bio in an Urban Studies course in my latest college stint (BA in PA, in 1986. ---
**Author:** ![Little\_Nemo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/little_nemo/32/3120_2.png) [@Little\_Nemo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Little_Nemo)\ **Post date:** [June 10, 2014, 3:26am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/any-readers-of-robert-caro-here/690276/5 "2014-06-10T03:26:38Z")
Major fan of Caro. I’ve read all his Johnson books and his Moses biography. The only nit I’d pick is that Caro has essentially written a highlight reel of Johnson’s life rather than a general biography. The first volume was the exception, being a general biography of Johnson’s early life. But the subsequent three volumes have focused on specific periods of Johnson’s life: the 1948 Senate election, the 1957 Civil Rights Bill, and the 1963 transition to the Presidency. These were certainly important events in Johnson’s career and life but I have to wonder if this approach is inherently unbalanced. ---
**Author:** ![PastTense](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/pasttense/32/14550_2.png) [@PastTense](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/PastTense)\ **Post date:** [January 24, 2019, 10:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/any-readers-of-robert-caro-here/690276/6 "2019-01-24T22:05:02Z")
> [@aldiboronti](#): > > I remember the first time I came across Caro. I was browsing the shelves of my local library in England when my eyes lit upon a huge volume entitled _The Years of Lyndon Johnson: The Path to Power_ by Robert Caro. This looks interesting, I thought. I had no idea then that this would be probably the greatest political biography I would read in my lifetime and that in 2014 I would still be anxiously awaiting the fifth and final volume of the work. Well in 2019 you are still undoubtedly waiting for the 5th volume of this work. Caro is 83 and you wonder how long his health is going to stay adequate. But there is an interesting New Yorker article he just did: > **[Robert A. Caro on the Secrets of Lyndon Johnson’s Archives](https://www.newyorker.com/magazine/2019/01/28/the-secrets-of-lyndon-johnsons-archives)** > > On a Presidential paper trail. And his final comment: > [@](#): > > I am constantly being asked why it takes me so long to finish my books. Well, it’s the research that takes the time—the research and whatever it is in me that makes the research take so very much longer than I had planned. I’m currently working on the fifth and final book in “The Years of Lyndon Johnson,” about the nineteen-sixties. I am also planning to write a full-scale memoir, describing in some detail my experiences in researching and writing my books about Robert Moses and Lyndon Johnson—my experiences in learning about these two men and their methods of acquiring and using power—and also the efforts that were made to keep me from learning about these men and their methods. > > Which leads to a final question: Why am I publishing these random recollections toward a memoir while I’m still working on the last volume of the Johnson biography, when I haven’t finished it, while I’m still—at the age of eighty-three—several years from finishing it? Why don’t I just include this material in the longer, full-length memoir I’m hoping to write? > > The answer is, I’m afraid, quite obvious, and, if I forget it for a few days, I am frequently reminded of it, by journalists who, in writing about me and my hope of finishing, often express their doubts in a sarcastic phrase: “Do the math.” Well, I can do that math. I am well aware that I may never get to write the memoir, although I have so many thoughts about writing, so many anecdotes about research, that I would like to preserve for anyone interested enough to read them. I decided that, just in case, I’d put some of them down on paper now. ---
**Author:** ![Little\_Nemo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/little_nemo/32/3120_2.png) [@Little\_Nemo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Little_Nemo)\ **Post date:** [January 25, 2019, 4:31am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/any-readers-of-robert-caro-here/690276/7 "2019-01-25T04:31:21Z")
That sadly reminds me of John Norwich, another one of my favorite historians to read. In fact, his history of Venice was the book that started me reading history for my own enjoyment. That was long enough ago that I knew Norwich must be getting old. And when he published _Four Princes_ in 2016, it was widely expected to be his last book (and Norwich said as much). So I was delighted to see his new book, _France: A History_, when it was released a few months back. And then I read the endpiece which said that he had died two months after completing it. ---
**Author:** ![Elendil\_s\_Heir](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/7cd45c/32.png) [@Elendil\_s\_Heir](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Elendil_s_Heir)\ **Post date:** [January 26, 2019, 4:58am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/any-readers-of-robert-caro-here/690276/8 "2019-01-26T04:58:19Z")
Yes, I like Caro, but have read only some of his stuff. Interesting, readable, and exhaustively well-researched. I know there was some criticism that he romanticized Coke Stevenson, though, in his book about LBJ’s winning Senate campaign. Caro was a college classmate of my dad’s, and they’ve corresponded a bit in recent years, although they didn’t know each other well while both were on campus.