Master of the Senate

The Years of Lyndon Johnson, Volume III (Part 3 of a 3-Part Recording)

De: Robert A. Caro

Narrado por: Grover Gardner

National Book Awards, Winner

Pulitzer Prize, Winner

Master of the Senate, Book Three of The Years of Lyndon Johnson, carries Johnson’s story through one of its most remarkable periods: his twelve years, from 1949 to 1960, in the United States Senate.

At the heart of the book is its unprecedented revelation of how legislative power works in America, how the Senate works, and how Johnson, in his ascent to the presidency, mastered the Senate as no political leader before him had ever done.

It was during these years that all Johnson’s experience—from his Texas Hill Country boyhood to his passionate representation in Congress of his hardscrabble constituents to his tireless construction of a political machine—came to fruition. Caro introduces the story with a dramatic account of the Senate itself: how Daniel Webster, Henry Clay, and John C. Calhoun had made it the center of governmental energy, the forum in which the great issues of the country were thrashed out. And how, by the time Johnson arrived, it had dwindled into a body that merely responded to executive initiatives, all but impervious to the forces of change. Caro anatomizes the genius for political strategy and tactics by which, in an institution that had made the seniority system all-powerful for a century and more, Johnson became Majority Leader after only a single term-the youngest and greatest Senate Leader in our history; how he manipulated the Senate’s hallowed rules and customs and the weaknesses and strengths of his colleagues to change the “unchangeable” Senate from a loose confederation of sovereign senators to a whirring legislative machine under his own iron-fisted control.

Caro demonstrates how Johnson’s political genius enabled him to reconcile the unreconcilable: to retain the support of the southerners who controlled the Senate while earning the trust—or at least the cooperation—of the liberals, led by Paul Douglas and Hubert Humphrey, without whom he could not achieve his goal of winning the presidency. He shows the dark side of Johnson’s ambition: how he proved his loyalty to the great oil barons who had financed his rise to power by ruthlessly destroying the career of the New Dealer who was in charge of regulating them, Federal Power Commission Chairman Leland Olds. And we watch him achieve the impossible: convincing southerners that although he was firmly in their camp as the anointed successor to their leader, Richard Russell, it was essential that they allow him to make some progress toward civil rights. In a breathtaking tour de force, Caro details Johnson’s amazing triumph in maneuvering to passage the first civil rights legislation since 1875.

Master of the Senate, told with an abundance of rich detail that could only have come from Caro’s peerless research, is both a galvanizing portrait of the man himself—the titan of Capital Hill, volcanic, mesmerizing—and a definitive and revelatory study of the workings and personal and legislative power.

This is Volume 3. Have you listened to Master of the Senate, Volume 1 and Volume 2 yet?©2002 Robert A. Caro, Inc. (P)2002 Books on Tape, Inc.

Reseñas de la Crítica

National Book Awards Winner

Pulitzer Prize Winner

“A wonderful, a glorious tale.... It will be hard to equal this amazing book. It reads like a Trollope novel, but not even Trollope explored the ambitions and the gullibilities of men as deliciously as Robert Caro does. Even though I knew what the outcome of a particular episode would be, I followed Caro’s account of it with excitement. I went back over chapters to make sure I had not missed a word.... Caro’s description of how [Johnson passed the civil rights legislation] is masterly; I was there and followed the course of the legislation closely, but I did not know the half of it.” (Anthony Lewis, The New York Times Book Review)

“A masterpiece.... Robert Caro has written one of the truly great political biographies of the modern age.” (Daniel Finkelstein, The Times, London)

“Mesmerizing.... [It] brings LBJ blazing into the Senate.... A tale rife with drama and hypnotic in the telling. The historian’s equivalent of a Mahler symphony.” (Malcolm Jones, Newsweek)

Superb!

An immaculate and delightful political book! There simply is not a more detailed account of political success than Caro's masterpiece. I will add that the audio quality and narrator's voice are both excellent. I humbly recommend to all.

A great book killed by editing.

I thought the book was phenomenal, and the performance was great. It's too bad the editing killed it. tbey still include the breaks to flip the cassette over...on a digital book. the chapters were broken up by cassette, bot the actual chapters.

Awesome !

All three books have been riveting. I’m looking forward to book four and hopefully book five.

Robert Caro is a Master of Nonfiction

For such long books with so much detail about what one might consider trivia in another biography, Caro's biography of Lyndon Johnson is unbelievably compelling. It traces Johnson's rise to become the Senate majority leader, his heart attack, his first attempt at winning the presidential nomination, his record on civil rights, his cold war stance, and many other issues. Underlying everything is the conflict within Johnson about the issues he cares about, and his unbridled ambition. Caro acknowledges both, but it's the ambition that is Johnson's higher value and driving force. Another very well written study of power by Robert Caro.

A stunning achievement

Robert Caro is unrivaled in his craft. America’s greatest living writer! Can’t wait for his next work.

Consider the abridged version

I always choose unabridged versions. With The Master of the Senate, that could be too much of a good thing. I haven't listened to the abridged version, but...

The three volumes get into so much detail about Senate procedure and minor votes that a good abridgment would be preferable for all but the most detail-oriented listener.

Still, this is only a minor quibble with Caro's masterpiece. The story in Volume 3 of how Johnson finessed the passage of the symbolically ground-breaking (but toothless) Civil Rights Act of 1957 is unparalleled. A great biographer walks us through the subtle strategies of a political genius.

Note: The unabridged Master of the Senate has three volumes. The perspective listener can only tell this by carefully examining nearly illegible cover pictures. Audible should clarify this in the web site's text.

OUTSTANDING

What made the experience of listening to Master of the Senate the most enjoyable?

The learning from the story is priceless.

What was one of the most memorable moments of Master of the Senate?

To learn about the "real LBJ" and some specifics about his relationship with RK. The "real LBJ" is beyond belief (almost).

Have you listened to any of Grover Gardner’s other performances before? How does this one compare?

I have not.

Was there a moment in the book that particularly moved you?

The last part of this book is fantastic.

Any additional comments?

You can not go wring with this book.

great book

great book on president Johnson Senate years. only issue I have is this was originally on tapes and there are pauses while it say to turn tapes over which should be edited out

Fantasic

if you're reading this review, you probably already know that Robert Caro's biography is fantastic. There are a few formatting issues - the last three hours of the third volume are a repeat - but the quality is all there.

A note on the division: the audiobook is divided into three parts, which is a bit of a ripoff. However, it actually makes sense if you're only interested in particular parts. The first part is a long history of the Senate, which I found difficult to sit through (what a useless institution!), plus a bit of the early days of LBJ in the Senate. The second part is the meat of the book about LBJ's rise to power and how he wielded it. This part is amazing.

The third part is about civil rights and how LBJ came around to supporting it. This part was half inspiring, half pure cynicism, like the man himself. If you're interested in that aspect, you can probably just get the third part.

I will definitely be reading more of Caro's works.

Cassette instruction

The cassette instructions could be edited out. They eventually become so annoying they made me stop listening for a few days.