Caro’s Power

I can hardly stand the wait. Robert Caro’s new book on Lyndon Johnson will be out soon. I won’t bore my long-time readers with getting the new readers up to speed. I’ll simply remind everybody that Robert Caro’s books are the best I’ve ever read. And I’m always reading a book.

There’s a story about the new book in The New York Times Magazine.

Robert Caro’s Big Dig


”Caro now finds Johnson more fascinating than ever, he told me, and added: “It’s not a question of liking or disliking him. I’m trying to explain how political power worked in America in the second half of the 20th century, and here’s a guy who understood power and used it in a way that no one ever had. In the getting of that power he’s ruthless — ruthless to a degree that surprised even me, who thought he knew something about ruthlessness. But he also means it when he says that all his life he wanted to help poor people and people of color, and you see him using the ruthlessness, the savagery for wonderful ends.”

There’s a story in Esquire and also one in The New Yorker. I don’t normally read books on what I consider the literary-highbrow list, but it appears that -- in this instance -- we’re on the same page.

Embrace your inner nerd. Start reading.

Don Brown
April 17, 2012