Working
by Robert A. Caro · first published 2019
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Two-time Pulitzer Prize winner Robert Caro gives us a glimpse into his own life and work. He describes what it was like to interview the mighty Robert Moses; what it felt like to begin discovering the extent of the political power Moses wielded; the combination of discouragement and exhilaration he felt confronting the vast holdings of the Lyndon B. Johnson Library in Austin, Texas; his encounters with witnesses, including longtime residents wrenchingly displaced by the construction of Moses' Cross-Bronx Expressway and Lady Bird Johnson acknowledging the beauty and influence of one of LBJ's mi
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- antifragile, Nassim Nicholas Taleb (the guy is smart, but insufferable) - a short history of nearly everything, Bill Bryson - working: researching, interviewing, writing by Robert Caro (I love just about everything he puts out)
on “Ask HN: Best books you've read in 2019?” ↗I highly recommend “Working” by Robert Caro, his latest book. It’s an excellent book to start with if you want to get an exposure to his way of working and his thinking.
on “An Interview with Robert Caro and Kurt Vonnegut (1999)” ↗Working: Researching, Interviewing, Writing by Robert. A. Caro. He is known for his biographies of Robert Moses (The Power Broker) and of Lyndon Johnson, and for his extensive research of these subjects. Early…
on “Ask HN: What are some of the best books you have read in 2022?” ↗He has a book coming out about it: https://www.amazon.com/Working-Robert-Caro/dp/0525656340/ref...
on “The Secrets of Lyndon Johnson’s Archives” ↗In 'Working' [0], Robert Caro spends pages on how much being able to join a community of writers meant to him when producing 'The Power Broker.' The New York Public Library set aside a room as a workspace explicitly…
on “Writers Are More Prolific When They Cluster” ↗In an interview, Michael Lewis has said that he wrote 'Liar's Poker' as a cautionary tale, but it was taken as a 'How To' manual. Robert Caro has said (e.g. in 'Working') that he writes to expose how power is acquired and used in the US... which, as you say, also cuts both ways.
on “Y Combinator and Power in Silicon Valley” ↗…nature and moral development. 67. The Spy and the Traitor - Soviet spy Oleg Gordievsky's story. 68. Billion Dollar Spy - Cold War espionage. 69. Skunk Works - Lockheed's F-117 and SR-71 programs. 70. Working by Robert Caro - Insights into Caro's research. 71. The Wager by David Grann - 18th-century British maritime disaster. 72. Caro's LBJ Series - Biography of Lyndon B. Johnson. 73. The Prize by Daniel…
on “Ask HN: Books about people who did hard things” ↗If there were another writer of non-fiction as deeply researched I'd compare McPhee to, it would be Robert Caro. I already knew from Caro's memoir Working that Caro did not use a tape recorder in his interviews with subjects, and from this article about McPhee's method, I learned that McPhee does not either. I'm a bit surprised: I'd have thought for such…
on “The McPhee method for writing deeply reported nonfiction” ↗