Rating: 
Summary: Bravo! Maestro Caro
Review: Robert A. Caro should live forever, so that I, and my children, and their children, and their children's children, may have, every ten to twelve years, a significant book they may read which may truly be described as "The Book of the Decade."In devoting the past 28 years of his life to writing a biography of a man, Lyndon Johnson, who was at once, at the time Caro set about to writing this work, both scorned and forgotten (by the American people), and revered (by those with whom LBJ worked, or had browbeaten) and dead (prematurely, of a broken heart), Robert Caro (and his wife, Ina) labored with an intensity rarely displayed by the most ardent scholar-- or by any other worker in any other field, for that matter. The result, in this case, is the third volume of Caro's luminous/masterful/nonpareil/sine qua non (go to your Thesaurus for other appropriate adjectives) history (biography is not sufficient) of one of the 20th Century's most important figures, and of the times in which Lyndon Johnson lived. A Caro book is a biography not only of a man (Robert Moses, Lyndon Johnson) but of the many men (and women) and of the era in which that figure came to life and achieved prominence. Written as well as it's researched (and edited for brevity), "Master of the Senate" is a gift. Caro is honest, diligent, and (did I say?) as hard-working a professional as there has ever been. Think of "Brother Jonathan" in the old Xerox commercial. In "Master of the Senate," a huge economic value as a short history of the United States Senate and its often-quirky figures and statesmen, a reader will come to understand how and why LBJ took a position once deprecated and avoided by seemingly brighter, saner senators (majority leader) and, by the time he had single-handedly passed the 1957 Civil Rights Act (the most significant legislation of its kind since the 14th Amendment), Majority Leader had taken on a permanent life in the upper house as a position of power and great influence. We shouldn't gloss over Lyndon Johnson, whose personality might be the subject of a doctor's contribution to DSM V-- and who was at once a cruel and opportunistic man who treated those closest to him with complete disdain; corrupt and selfishly uncaring; and a man of great empathy toward the disenfranchised people of his generation -- but read Caro and you will come to admire LBJ, warts and all. Essence versus existence? Caro, in less than 1,200 pages, illuminates Lyndon Johnson's, and --taken with "Path to Power" and "Means of Ascent"-- has succeeded in making LBJ a magnificent tragic figure for generations to come. Caro, Beschloss, Califano. Valenti-- and Doris Kearns (Goodwin). There are hundreds of books about Lyndon Johnson, but the works of these authors are all you need in your library to understand the life and times of the 36th president. Caro's explication of the life of Senator Richard B. Russell alone-- the archetypal "Southern Gentleman Senator" of postwar America, and LBJ's senatorial mentor-- is a splendid epic in itself. (You will develop a dislike for William Tecumseh Sherman, as the vengeful victorious general unequivocally exacerbated the divisons caused by the Civil War, and the hardships of black Americans, for 100 years by his behavior in 1865 Georgia.) Buy "Master of the Senate." Go to the nearest library and check it out. Beg it from friends, whatever. I am advancing my calendar to ten or so years from now, when Volume Four will arrive.
Rating: 
Summary: The Many-Masked Man
Review: He was a bully, a rogue, a cheat and a scoundrel. And he single-handedly muscled the U.S. Senate into passing the first piece of civil rights legislation since reconstruction. The paradox that was Lyndon Johnson receives microscopic examination in this third installment of Robert Caro's ambitious biography. It's a story that needs a thousand pages to recount how a political phenomenon horsewhipped the Senate during the twelve years he spent there and drove much of the dramatic history that predestined his presidency. Caro inevitably expends most of his scholarly focus on the struggle for the 1957 civil rights bill, a weak piece of legislation that pried open the seal of Senate reluctance to shake of the legacy of reconstruction eighty years before. Prior to his struggle to pass the bill Johnson had never been noted as a champion of liberal causes--his loyalty, such as it was, rested firmly with the Southern senators who counted him a star among them. But Johnson had extraordinary powers of perception, and even, Caro suggests with a few telling anecdotes, a streak of humanistic compassion. He soon sensed that a wave was breaking in American life, and he had every intention of riding it to glory. The Senate was Johnson's natural habitat--"just the right size", he declared when he arrived there in 1948 fresh off a stolen election. Clubby, fraternal, and exclusive, the institution had done more to block progressive legislation for decades than all the raft of bigoted southern governors combined. Dominated by the aged and formidable southern bulls, it sat there, impenetrable and determined, resisting all change and miring the nation down in moral and political inertia. Caro sets all this up with masterful journalistic thoroughness, so that by the time Johnson walks through the Senate's venerable doors the reader senses right off that the antiquarian legislators were welcoming a serpent in their bosom. Johnson's personal style shook things up from the start, as he took measure of the Senate's power centers and plotted his way toward ultimate control. In 1948 none of his colleagues would have predicted the ultimate ascent of this Texas hayseed, with his backslapping, vulgar ways, though some took early note of the folksy way he never stopped cajoling and persuading until his interlocuter was completely won over to his point of view. For years in the beginning, Johnson gave no sign of his ultimate destiny as shepherd of the civil rights movement. Caro rightly makes no attempt to sugar coat Johnson's ruthless side. The book lingers provcatively over the Leland Olds affair, when Johnson sacrificed the career and reputation of a highly regarded left wing bureaucrat in order to gain political capital with the oil lobby. During this reprensible episode Johnson wears the face of Joe McCarthy to devastating and unremorseful effect. No question, Caro seems to say, the man wasn't perfect. Colorful, forceful, and American original, he was all of these things and more. And probably, the book hints, at the end of the day, when the masks were off and the truth revealed, the level of his humanity and heroism were able to shine through his Machiavellian armor.
Rating: 
Summary: Not as good as I expected.
Review: Having read Robert Caro's other 2 books on Lyndon Johnson and having anticipated the 3rd book for so long, I was very disappointed in this one.
I found it a burden toget through.
Dry and lacking the vitality of the previous 2.
Parts were very interesting and I certainly learnt a lot about your history of the senate but overall I think it lacked the human touch.
However it won't stop me anticipating the Presidential Years because LBJ comes across as a very interesting human being and I look forward to the next installment.
Rating:
Summary: Masterful
Review: MASTER OF THE SENATE was one of the best books I have ever read. I read the book this summer and chose not to write this review for a few months to reflect on that thought for a while. It's true. This is the perfect meeting of an inherently fascinating figure (Lyndon Johnson) with a masterful researcher and writer (Caro) through the vehicle of an important yet under-examined period of American history. So much has been written about Johnson that a thousand-page biography has a massive challenge in just offering something new. Caro meets this challenge in several ways: First, the book is as much about the U.S. Senate as it is about Johnson himself. I am aware of no other book that focuses on the Senate in the 1950s, and in that way alone this book is highly original. Second, Caro returns to the form he perfected in THE PATH TO POWER by delving into detail so precise that 1000 pages are necessary to get the whole story out. A lesser work containing the same information would be dull, but Caro's craft is finding beauty in detail. His first Johnson biography achieves beauty - it really changed the way biographies are written - in more than 800 pages devoted to Johnson's early life. With MASTER OF THE SENATE Caro again creates a story written well enough to be enjoyed for its writing alone. I suppose he could write a gripping stiory about just about anyone or any thing, but given Johnson's personality, accomplishments, contradictions and drama-quality, Caro had the perfect subject to apply his talents. This is a tremendous relief after 1990's disappointing MEANS OF ASCENT. In that book, Caro makes the most of his story telling skills, but the story he tells is misleading and too black and white. The Johnson of that book is to villainous, his rival, Coke Stevenson, actually a right-wing racist good-old-boy governor, too angelic. The preface of MEANS OF ASCENT describes a thrilling scene from Johnson's presidency for balance, to set up a "light" and "dark" thread analogy as an excuse why the story that follows is so very one sided. Not so with MASTER OF THE SENATE. Caro's Johnson emerges as far more complex, far more gray than the character in his earlier book. Occasionally, Caro may go a little too far in drawing attention to Johnson's good side. As if smarting from criticisms of his MEANS OF ASCENT, Caro occasionally stops the narrative to explain how this or that act of Johnson was so very, very, very important for the future of the free world. Caro doesn't need to do that - the story speaks for itself. MASTER OF THE SENATE contains several mini-biographies of other figures, such as Richard Russell and Hubert Humprey who play important parts in the larger story. The book's first hundred pages is not about Johnson at all, but a history of the Senate up to the time Johnson entered it. Again, a lesser author would have botched this. Instead of being distracting, these side stories are engrossing and help establish the richness of the whole work. Strom Thurmond doesn't get his own mini-biography, but as the last member of the Senate still in office from the time of this story, he serves as sort of a yardstick measuring how far we've come. Thurmond was one of the mist virulent racists in a Senate largely controlled by virulent racists. After one particularly venomous speech, one arch-segregationist commented that "Strom really believes this [racist] stuff." The comment is striking especially in the wake of the recent controversy over Trent Lott's comments. The implication seems to be that the one segregationist Senator more or less felt compelled to race-bait for political reasons, which Thurmond was a true believer. This makes the praise he has received for "overcoming" his prejudices now that he's 100 (and African Americans can vote) somewhat suspect. It also makes Lott's apology suspect - would today's "master of the senate" preferred to have been elected 50 years earlier? If he was, which side of the great 1957 Civil Rights Bill battle would he have been on? If this seems like a digression, it is meant more to be a reflection on how a serious history like MASTER OF THE SENATE has real relevance for contemporary citizens. It is not only a good book and an interesting story - it is an important source of civic information. It took Caro 12 years between his last book and this, but after reading MASTER OF THE SENATE I can hardly wait for his next one.
Rating:
Summary: Praise for Caro and Lang
Review: Stephen Lang's reading of the Master of the Senate is a model for audio books. His many, convincing voices bring the characters to life thus enriching the story. Coupled with the Caro's careful prose, the Master of the Senate audio book is a rare -- and highly 'hearable' -- treat.
Rating:
Summary: Winner of the National Book Award , 2002 Nonficition
Review: According to the words printed on an award given to Mr. Caro by the National Book Foundation, just before he won the National Book Award in Non-Fiction for 2002:
"Robert Caro raises biography to high art by melding a novelist's eye for character with a historians's meticulous quest for fact. In immaculate prose, Caro renders Johnson's wily (and occasionally monstrous) maneuvers to power while giving readers a fascinating lesson in how the Senate actally works. This riveting story also profoundly informs the history of civil rights in America." I totally agree.Congratulations Mr. Caro!
Rating:
Summary: Fascinating and a Pot-Boiler Too!
Review: Anybody who believes non-fiction is dull whould read Cato's LBJ series. This reads like a novel and is packed with information about events that have led to our world today. Having come of age in the sixties, this book puts a perspective on what made up the world I grew up in. Cato takes the time to build a background for influential people such as Richard Russell who, although unknown by most people under forty, provide a prequel to the events of the sixties.
Rating:
Summary: Another Masterpeice
Review: Caro's work is amazing - again. Just as with the first two volumes of the life of Lyndon Johnson, Master of the Senate is a page turning epic, this time focusing on the United States Senate in the 1950s. Caro's description of Johnson's meteoric rise demonstrates the subject's brilliance in, first the attainment, and then the use, of power. One also comes away with the the unavoidable impression that this use of power was, primarily, for personal purposes. Johnson is not a likeable character in any of the author's three volumes. Liar, cheater, overly sensitive, obsessed, cold, unfeeling, mean-spirited (read how he treats Lady Bird), all of these descriptions are appropriate. You might think that Caro does not like his subject and is tainted in his analysis. However, when you consider the amount of work and research that went into this offering, as well as the other volumes, it is hard to challenge the author's motivation or analysis. The three volumes taken together, to my mind, constitute the most thoroughly researched work on any political figure in American political history. Do not be put off by the massiveness of the work. Unless you have a pretty open schedule it will take you sometime to get through the more than one thousand pages, but it is thoroughly enjoyable from cover to cover. The writing is as good as the research. And it is not just Johnson. Caro's mini-biography of Senator Russell of Georgia, which continues throughout the pages, is brilliant. His history of the Senate and its great figures, including Clay, Calhoun and Webster, which puts Johnson's actions into context, might be the single best part of the book (don't skip over it). There is so much included in Master of the Senate, all of it worthwhile. I have not even mentioned the focus of the second half of the book featuring Johnson's efforts at passage of the Civil Rights Act. When you think of Johnson at the end of his career, bumbling his way through the Vietnam War disaster and sadly announcing his withdrawal from the 1968 Presidential race, you forget that he was one of the greatest politicians of the 20th Century. Not after you read this account. I can not recommend Master of the Senate enough.
Rating:
Summary: "Master of Senate", the audio cassette
Review: The epic quality of Caro's works on Johnson makes them a particularly satisfying listening experience. The only negative here is the usual with talking books: neither the author, nor the publisher (in this instance Random House), not to speak of the producer of the recording paid much attention to getting pronunciation spot on. For example: Uvalde, home of Vice President John Nance "Cactus Jack" Garner is rendered as "U-vald"... in lieu of the correct "U-vald-ee".
Rating:
Summary: A Masterpiece of US Political History
Review: There is a lot more to this book than just the amazing story of LBJs first 10 years in the Senate - there is also an amazing history of the U.S. Senate from colonial times to World War II, a history of the civil rights movement from the Civil War to the mid-60s, and an amazing synopsis of complicated Senate rules and procedures necessary to understanding the legislative genius that was Senator Lyndon B. Johnson. And Caro delivers these "extra" lessons in a compelling style that keeps the pages turning as fast as a fiction thriller. In fact, some of the aspects of LBJ's tenure in the Senate seems stranger than fiction, given how many amazing coincidences (in addition to the stolen election of '48) made his rise to national prominence possible. Woven throughout the story are deep psychilogical insights into who LBJ really was - an insecure yet overachieving workaholic who made it to the top without any real ties (as compared to JFK, whose irrelevance in the Senate becomes clear) other than the ones he created. You will grin at the personal relationships LBJ builds - first, finding out WHO matters, then learning WHAT matters to that person, and then BECOMING it - with Sam Rayburn, with Richard Russell, with whoever had the juice. Caro spells out the magic of Johnson's quick mastery of the Senate - he bacame Minority Leader after only two years, and Majority Leader two years later - and he elevated the position of Majority Leader from a Waterloo for prior Leaders into nearly co-equality with President Eisenhower. What were his motivations? Caro makes clear that the thirst for power - and the quest for the White House - may have given LBJ all the drive he needed - suggesting that his eventual leadership on civil rights was nothing more than part of his realization that he would need northern support to ever be President. LBJ used the Texas oil interests to get his financial backings (watch as he singlehandedly derails a worthy FEC nomination just because it would limit profits to oilmen to mere billions) and used the Southern coalition to get his foothold in the Senate (watch how his early speeches towed the Southern line on segregation), and then used the Senate to get national fame (watch his Korean War oversight committee make more headlines than progress). Yet he was a genius with his ability to foresee 8 moves ahead into power's lap. The story of the 1956 presidential nomination, and LBJs abortive effort for it, was almost amusing as a splash of cold water on an ego that went unchecked in the Senate - Caro vividly describes his cruelty to staff and other disloyal Senators in a way that makes you cringe - yet chuckle - as you watch this MACHINE gather up and then use power like none other before or since him. And the story of his 9th inning passage of the Civil Rights Act of 1957 - an almost impossible feat of compromise and persuasion, even if the bill was hollow - is priceless. This book should be mandatory reading for any student of fan of modern politics. I just cannot wait 12 years to get to Part IV so Mr. Caro, if you are reading, PLEASE hurry! What an amazing book.
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