|
I've been on a biography kick the last little while, right now I'm reading the first volume of Robert Caro's biography of LBJ: The Path to Power. I went into this expecting a well-researched book, but I'm pretty blown away by the sheer amount of reporting legwork that went into this: the sources and notes at the back is easily a 100 pages, covering everything from letters to oral histories to interviews. All that work gives the biography a ton of detail, not all of it pleasant (Caro's supposedly banned from the Johnson Presidential Library). One example: as a young man, Johnson was a bit of an arrogant twat, arrogant and full of boastful lying to his peers and a shameless suckup to anyone who could give him power (professors, the dean, etc). Still, I'm in awe of his political acumen; even as one of the most unpopular people on campus, he was able to not just organize a campaign to get himself elected for a three-month term, but to steer groups of people into working for his aims without them even noticing. He also blackmailed at least one person out of running, too. The sheer naked ambition of the guy is something to behold: he knows what he wants and isn't stopping at anything to get it. It's going to be a long read - I'm only about a third into the first of four books - but I'm enjoying it, it reminds me a lot of a less frantic version of Richard Ben Cramer's What It Takes, one of my favourite political biographies. While I'm on the topic, has anyone here read Mike Royko's Boss: Richard J. Daley of Chicago?
|
#
¿
Mar 2, 2014 17:31
|
|
|
|
| # ¿ May 14, 2024 05:34 |
|