The years of Lyndon Johnson
by Robert A. Caro · first published 2013
91% recommend9% neutral
Why HN recommends it
Multi-volume LBJ biography that doubles as a study of how political power is gained and used in the US. Praised for engaging prose, deep research and detail; suits readers into 20th-century history.
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The Years of Lyndon Johnson by Robert Caro. 4 books with a fifth one on the way. Pretty big time investment but the books are mostly standalone. Beware, Caro's biographies will spoil most other biographies for you. His attention…
on “Ask HN: Recommend a biography?” ↗"The Passage of Power: The Years of Lyndon Johnson" Robert Caro LBJ "hacked" the American Senate, understanding its operations better than anyone perhaps ever. He further understood its role in American politics, and the impact of American politics…
on “Ask HN: Best books you read in 2012” ↗…fact—than rates in urban areas. > Studies had long disproved the utilities’ figures. A 1925 survey in Wisconsin found that the cost of lines would be not $5,000 but $1,225 per mile. The Path to Power: The Years of Lyndon Johnson I (pp. 714-715). Knopf Doubleday Publishing Group. Kindle Edition. I'll admit that Caro is not always right, but I'd love some proof to the contrary.
on “Microsoft and an army of tiny telecoms are part of a plan to wire rural America” ↗…geography, aircraft) and says who is better and why. Also very good: * FDR by Jean Edward Smith * Master of the Senate by Robert A. Caro * The Penguin History of New Zealand by Michael King * The years of Lyndon Johnson 2 – Means of Ascent by Robert Caro * Blood, Sweat & Chrome: The Wild and True Story of Mad Max: Fury Road by Kyle Buchanan * Becoming Trader Joe: How I Did Business My Way and Still Beat the Big…
on “Ask HN: What are some of the best books you have read in 2022?” ↗Its a biography but a biography I derived a lot of philosophy from - The Years of Lyndon Johnson by Robert Caro. Here is a blurb that wikipedia lists as the theme: Throughout his books, Caro examines the acquisition and use of political power in American democracy, from the perspective both of those…
on “Ask HN: Best books on Politics” ↗…the reader." * Playing at the World, Jon Peterson ("Explore the conceptual origins of wargames and role-playing games in this unprecedented history of simulating the real and the impossible.") * The Years of Lyndon Johnson (v1-4, 5 in production), Robert Caro. (If you ever wanted to see how political power actually works in the US, you can't beat this biography of LBJ, which reads like a (very long) novel.)
on “Ask HN: What are some good books?” ↗I'm making my way through Caro's monumental multi-volume LBJ documentary The Years of Lyndon Johnson, and it's just fantastic. Highly recommended if you're at all interested in midcentury America.
on “Robert A. Caro: “The Power Broker” 40 Years Later” ↗"The years of lyndon johnson" series by Robert Caro. Though it's a biography, it is really about how power is gained in the US political system. I'm on the third book right now, and I recommend them if you are interested in 20th…
on “Ask HN: What good books have you read lately?” ↗Master of the Senate: The Years of Lyndon Johnson by Robert Caro If you're interested in the complex history of LBJ, the Senate, or America during that time, I'd recommend this (or really, any) Robert Caro book.
on “Ask HN: What was the best book you read in 2016?” ↗The Power Broker and all volumes of The Years of Lyndon Johnson by Robert Caro. The best books I've ever read. I effectively re-read them all every year or two.
on “Ask HN: What are your favorite non-fiction books of all time?” ↗Grover Gardner is a terrific narrator. If you’re into grand-scale, multi-volume histories, I highly recommend his readings of Shelby Foote’s The Civil War: A Narrative and Robert Caro’s The Years of Lyndon Johnson.
on “Ask HN: Which audiobooks did/do you like?” ↗As far as my favorite poltical biographies go, I think the ones that gave me the most understanding of politics was the Robert A Caro biographies, "The Power Broker" and "The Years of Lyndon Johnson".
on “Forget Bob Woodward. These Are the Political Books You Want to Read” ↗Somewhat (by a few decades) behind the times here, but I finally found a set of Robert Caro's Years of Lyndon Johnson books at a 2nd-hand shop earlier this year. What a ride. I know it's a famous series, but I'm outside the US and so only recently became aware of its existence, and also therefore went in mostly blind…
on “Ask HN: Any interesting books you have read lately?” ↗You might be interested in reading The Years of Lyndon Johnson by Robert Caro book series about him. It's incredibly well written and engaging, while also being academically rigorous, well researched and well documented. It's an (incomplete) 5 book biography-ish,…
on “The curious case of the abominable shower” ↗While I primarily read fiction, I've been reading through the first book in Robert A. Caro's The Years of Lyndon Johnson (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Years_of_Lyndon_Johnson) and have been quite engaged given the interest I have in the topic (history as a whole isn't generally the genre I leap for, but Caro has a…
on “Ask HN: What's the best book you've read so far in 2024?” ↗