Robert A. Caro's life of Lyndon Johnson, which began with the greatly acclaimed The Path to Power, also winner of the National Book Critics Circle Award, continues -- one of the richest, most intensive and most revealing examinations ever undertaken of an American President. In Means of Ascent the Pulitzer Prize-winning biographer/historian, chronicler also of Robert Moses in The Power Broker, carries Johnson through his service in World War II and the foundation of his long-concealed fortune and the facts behind the myths he created about it. But the explosive heart of the book is Caro's revelation of the true story of the fiercely contested 1948 senatorial election, for forty years shrouded in rumor, which Johnson had to win or face certain political death, and which he did win -- by "the 87 votes that changed history." Caro makes us witness to a momentous turning point in American politics: the tragic last stand of the old politics versus the new -- the politics of issue versus the politics of image, mass manipulation, money and electronic dazzle.
Means of Ascent: The Years of Lyndon Johnson II
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Editorial Reviews
Amazon.com Review
The second installment in a projected four-volume biography of LBJ that opened with The Path to Power, Means of Ascent shines a harsh light on the early political years of one of America's most paradoxical presidents. The man who would later ram civil rights legislation through a reluctant Congress, and then be brought down by Vietnam, came out of a political swamp--Caro gives a graphic picture of the Texas democratic political machine at its most corrupt. The climax of the book is LBJ's election to the Senate in 1948, an election he won by 87 dubious votes out of almost a million. That vote arguably changed history. This book won the 1990 National Book Critics Circle Award for Biography.
Review
"Thrilling. Caro burns into the reader's imagination the story of the [1948 Senate] election. Never has it been told so dramatically, with breathtaking detail piled on incredible development . . . In The Path to Power, Volume I of his monumental biography, Robert A. Caro ignited a blowtorch whose bright flame illuminated Johnson's early career. In Means of Ascent he intensifies the flame to a brilliant blue point." --Christopher Lehmann-Haupt, New York Times
"Brilliant. No brief review does justice to the drama of the story Caro is telling, which is nothing less than how present-day politics was born." --Henry F. Graff, Professor of History, Columbia University
"Riveting . . . Explosive . . . Readers are in for a white-knuckle, hair-raising tale that could have ended in any of a dozen ways, with L.B.J. in the White House the longest shot of all. This is good history. Caro's treatment achieves poetic intensity." --Paul Gray, Time
"Caro has a unique place among American political biographers. He has become, in many ways, the standard by which his fellows are measured. Caro's diligence [and] ambition are phenomenal . . . A remarkable story . . . Epic." --Mark Feeney, Boston Sunday Globe
"Immensely engaging . . . Caro is an indefatigable investigative reporter and a skillful historian who can make the most abstract material come vibrantly to life. [He has a] marvelous ability to tell a story . . . His analysis of how power is used---to build highways and dams, to win elections, to get rich---is masterly." --Ronald Steel, New York Times Book Review
"Caro has changed the art of political biography." --Nicholas von Hoffman
"A spellbinding, hypnotic journey into the political life and times of Lyndon Johnson. Riveting drama." --Jim Finley, Los Angeles Times
"The most compelling study of American political power and corruption since Robert Penn Warren's All the King's Men.... It is nothing less than a political epic, the definitive account of a watershed election, rich with all of the intrigue and drama that have become the stuff of legend. [It has] the suspense of a political thriller." --Steve Neal, Fort Worth Star Telegram
"Magnificent . . . Thunder and lightning rip through Mr. Caro's viscerally compelling work." --Thomas W. Hazlett, The Wall Street Journal
"His research is dazzlingly exhaustive, his gripping story is enhanced by excellent writing, and his findings [seem] largely irrefutable. No one has done a better job of researching [the 1948 race] than Mr. Caro. He has produced a portrait not only of Lyndon Johnson, but also of the politics and values of mid-century America." --Philip Seib, Dallas Morning News
"Robert Caro gives us an LBJ who was human and then some, and what's enthralling is how this lucid, fascinating book keeps forcing us to confront the extreme contradictions of what (on good days) we call human nature. It's a testament to Robert Caro's skill that we find it so difficult to get a firm moral fix on Johnson. Caro is that rare biographer who seems intrigued by his subject but happily free from the urge to either heroicize, psychologize—or excoriate and punish." --Francine Prose, 7 Days
"Means of Ascent is a political biography, a detective story, a western and a character study. Above all, it is a richly textured, multilayered chronicle of a fundamental social and political change and how this change highlighted elements of Mr. Johnson's character: his powerful needs, tremendous ambition and particular genius." --Robert A. Kronley, The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
"One can trust every detail. The sagaciousness and discretion of Caro's investigations are obvious from the start. The story of that election has all the excitement of a murder mystery in which the culprit is known, but the question is whether justice will triumph. Caro tells it with the same thriller instinct as the old novelists, yet with the passion for accuracy of the most exacting detective." --Denis Wadley, Minneapolis/St. Paul Star Tribune
"A great book, and I believe the completed biography will be the great book about American politics in the twentieth century. The story of the '48 election is remarkable, unique. If it weren't a cliche, I'd say it has Tolstoyan epic grandeur." --Robert K. Massie
"Caro's writing summons a reviewer's cliches—gripping, compelling, absorbing, irresistible . . . unputdownable. The sentences sparkle. The details pile up in a mountain of evidence . . . Caro has at last set the record straight." --Richard Marius, Harvard Magazine
"A spellbinding political thriller . . . riveting." --Arthur Salm, San Diego Tribune
"Extraordinary and brilliant . . . Devastatingly persuasive . . . Caro's prodigious research, and his discovery of original sources ignored by other biographers, proves beyond doubt that much of what Johnson said about these years was false . . . The spadework combined with Caro's passion makes for drama more riveting than any novel." --Mark A. Gamin, Cleveland Plain Dealer
"We who are alive today are privileged to be present at the creation of what, when it is completed, may rank as the most riveting and disturbing American political biography of this century . . . Magnificently written." --Theodore M. O'Leary, Kansas City Star
"Caro is the premier biographer of our time." --Bernard D. Nossiter, The Progressive
"No one understands Lyndon Baines Johnson without reading Robert A. Caro." --James F. Vesely, Sacramento Union
"Brilliant. No brief review does justice to the drama of the story Caro is telling, which is nothing less than how present-day politics was born." --Henry F. Graff, Professor of History, Columbia University
"Riveting . . . Explosive . . . Readers are in for a white-knuckle, hair-raising tale that could have ended in any of a dozen ways, with L.B.J. in the White House the longest shot of all. This is good history. Caro's treatment achieves poetic intensity." --Paul Gray, Time
"Caro has a unique place among American political biographers. He has become, in many ways, the standard by which his fellows are measured. Caro's diligence [and] ambition are phenomenal . . . A remarkable story . . . Epic." --Mark Feeney, Boston Sunday Globe
"Immensely engaging . . . Caro is an indefatigable investigative reporter and a skillful historian who can make the most abstract material come vibrantly to life. [He has a] marvelous ability to tell a story . . . His analysis of how power is used---to build highways and dams, to win elections, to get rich---is masterly." --Ronald Steel, New York Times Book Review
"Caro has changed the art of political biography." --Nicholas von Hoffman
"A spellbinding, hypnotic journey into the political life and times of Lyndon Johnson. Riveting drama." --Jim Finley, Los Angeles Times
"The most compelling study of American political power and corruption since Robert Penn Warren's All the King's Men.... It is nothing less than a political epic, the definitive account of a watershed election, rich with all of the intrigue and drama that have become the stuff of legend. [It has] the suspense of a political thriller." --Steve Neal, Fort Worth Star Telegram
"Magnificent . . . Thunder and lightning rip through Mr. Caro's viscerally compelling work." --Thomas W. Hazlett, The Wall Street Journal
"His research is dazzlingly exhaustive, his gripping story is enhanced by excellent writing, and his findings [seem] largely irrefutable. No one has done a better job of researching [the 1948 race] than Mr. Caro. He has produced a portrait not only of Lyndon Johnson, but also of the politics and values of mid-century America." --Philip Seib, Dallas Morning News
"Robert Caro gives us an LBJ who was human and then some, and what's enthralling is how this lucid, fascinating book keeps forcing us to confront the extreme contradictions of what (on good days) we call human nature. It's a testament to Robert Caro's skill that we find it so difficult to get a firm moral fix on Johnson. Caro is that rare biographer who seems intrigued by his subject but happily free from the urge to either heroicize, psychologize—or excoriate and punish." --Francine Prose, 7 Days
"Means of Ascent is a political biography, a detective story, a western and a character study. Above all, it is a richly textured, multilayered chronicle of a fundamental social and political change and how this change highlighted elements of Mr. Johnson's character: his powerful needs, tremendous ambition and particular genius." --Robert A. Kronley, The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
"One can trust every detail. The sagaciousness and discretion of Caro's investigations are obvious from the start. The story of that election has all the excitement of a murder mystery in which the culprit is known, but the question is whether justice will triumph. Caro tells it with the same thriller instinct as the old novelists, yet with the passion for accuracy of the most exacting detective." --Denis Wadley, Minneapolis/St. Paul Star Tribune
"A great book, and I believe the completed biography will be the great book about American politics in the twentieth century. The story of the '48 election is remarkable, unique. If it weren't a cliche, I'd say it has Tolstoyan epic grandeur." --Robert K. Massie
"Caro's writing summons a reviewer's cliches—gripping, compelling, absorbing, irresistible . . . unputdownable. The sentences sparkle. The details pile up in a mountain of evidence . . . Caro has at last set the record straight." --Richard Marius, Harvard Magazine
"A spellbinding political thriller . . . riveting." --Arthur Salm, San Diego Tribune
"Extraordinary and brilliant . . . Devastatingly persuasive . . . Caro's prodigious research, and his discovery of original sources ignored by other biographers, proves beyond doubt that much of what Johnson said about these years was false . . . The spadework combined with Caro's passion makes for drama more riveting than any novel." --Mark A. Gamin, Cleveland Plain Dealer
"We who are alive today are privileged to be present at the creation of what, when it is completed, may rank as the most riveting and disturbing American political biography of this century . . . Magnificently written." --Theodore M. O'Leary, Kansas City Star
"Caro is the premier biographer of our time." --Bernard D. Nossiter, The Progressive
"No one understands Lyndon Baines Johnson without reading Robert A. Caro." --James F. Vesely, Sacramento Union
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Customer Reviews
Most Helpful Customer Reviews
45 of 45 people found the following review helpful
Format:Paperback
I loved "The Path to Power" but I held off on reading this volume because I could not understand why Caro would devote an entire volume to seven years in LBJ's life. After I read this book, I have no doubt that this decision was a good one. These years--particularly the 1948 Democratic Senatorial Primary--were some of the most historically significant events on the last hundred years. It was this election that perhaps more than any other lay the foundation for politics as we know it. Without the eventual win in this election, Caro argues that LBJ's political career would have been finished. If that were true, he never would have gone on to be president. And if that did not happen, one most ask would Vietnam or "The Great Society" ever have happened quite the way they did. Caro is very convincing in arguing that this dramatic election is one of the most important in U.S. History.
Aside from the significance of the year, I would like to emphasize what a truly exciting read this volume is. I was utterly enthralled to read about what unfolded next in the battle for the democratic candidacy for Texas' senatorial seat. This in spite of the fact that everyone reading the book already knows the outcome. Many have said that this is a hatchet job on LBJ. While this is not a positive portrait of LBJ as a moral figure, it praises him highly as a calculating politician--possibly one of the greatest of all times. The other thing to remember is that Caro is highlighting an election in 1940s Texas, which has always been notorious for corruption in politics (witness the cartoonish and stranger-than-fiction Pappy O'Daniel). The difference in this case was that Coke Stevenson was not as willing to accept that corruption as LBJ was. It is also a lament for the loss of politicians like Stevenson, who one feels Caro holds in much higher regard than LBJ, as will most readers--despite political leanings--once they complete this volume.
This volume is--hands down--one of the most exciting books I have read in a long time. I found it fascinating and could not put it down. I look forward to moving on to the third volume (The Master of the Senate) but I fear how long I will have to wait for the next volume after that.
Aside from the significance of the year, I would like to emphasize what a truly exciting read this volume is. I was utterly enthralled to read about what unfolded next in the battle for the democratic candidacy for Texas' senatorial seat. This in spite of the fact that everyone reading the book already knows the outcome. Many have said that this is a hatchet job on LBJ. While this is not a positive portrait of LBJ as a moral figure, it praises him highly as a calculating politician--possibly one of the greatest of all times. The other thing to remember is that Caro is highlighting an election in 1940s Texas, which has always been notorious for corruption in politics (witness the cartoonish and stranger-than-fiction Pappy O'Daniel). The difference in this case was that Coke Stevenson was not as willing to accept that corruption as LBJ was. It is also a lament for the loss of politicians like Stevenson, who one feels Caro holds in much higher regard than LBJ, as will most readers--despite political leanings--once they complete this volume.
This volume is--hands down--one of the most exciting books I have read in a long time. I found it fascinating and could not put it down. I look forward to moving on to the third volume (The Master of the Senate) but I fear how long I will have to wait for the next volume after that.
19 of 19 people found the following review helpful
By A Customer
Format:Hardcover
I love this series. I perused this site to see if anyone knew when the third volume would be out. No one did, so I e-mailed Randon House. Their response: "Robert A. Caro is hard at work on the last part of Volume Three of The Years of Lyndon Johnson, in which he shows how Johnson mastered the United States Senate as no one else has before or since. You know the amount of research Caro does, how he leaves no stone or paper unturned in his insistence on getting every fact and detail absolutely correct in his life of LBJ and his history of America in the 20th century. And you know what a great writer he is. Such research and writing take time, and we have not as yet set a publication date."
22 of 23 people found the following review helpful
By A Customer
Format:Paperback
Robert Caro portrays Johnson as a compulsive liar with a need to prevaricate and steal that could make a politician cringe. I believe that the domestic program of Lyndon Johnson, civil rights legislation in particular, makes him one of the great US Presidents - even after reading this book. Given the disparity in these views of Johnson, it is remarkable that I found "Ascent to Power" compelling reading.
Caro's book is extensively researched and written with a gripping intensity worthy of the best detective novel. His work gave me an insight that went beyond politics to that of human nature, the drive to power and impact that one individual could have on the course of the 20th century.
My greatest regret - Volume 3 in this biography is years behind schedule. Robert, stop the foolin' around and finish that book!
Most Recent Customer Reviews
5.0 out of 5 stars
Caro series on Lyndon Johnson
I don't know how Caro does it, but this author captures exact words and phrases used by LBJ fifty years or more ago. Read more
Published 3 days ago by Roger Lignugaris
5.0 out of 5 stars
History in the making
I found Caro's work amazing and one of the best modern history books. His reaserach and writing of what is "current history" is first class. Read more
Published 5 days ago by john a woods
5.0 out of 5 stars
How to steal an election
By the end of this second volume of Robert Caro's sweeping political chronicles of LBJ, over 1500 pages have gone by, and we're only up to 1948! Read more
Published 11 days ago by B. Frey
5.0 out of 5 stars
Great book.
The best of its kind. I loved everything about this product. Writing this review is extremely stupid and time consuming.
Published 13 days ago by Joan Young
5.0 out of 5 stars
Great Book read all three
The three biography's of Lyndon Johnson by Robert A. Caro are a masters class in the workings of government. They should be required reading.
Published 22 days ago by Joe from St. Louis
5.0 out of 5 stars
Intense, detailed and utterly fascinating
Robert Caro writes well and keeps you turning pages as he doesn't miss a detail. You feel as though you were a part of history.
Published 1 month ago by Annie
5.0 out of 5 stars
Not just a biography
Through the research of Mr. Caro, his wife and the many others who assisted them, we are presented with not just a biography, but a history of political institutions (both state... Read more
Published 1 month ago by scorpionmusic
5.0 out of 5 stars
LBJ, Warts and all
I grew up in South Texas and the Texas Hill Country, the land that spawned LBJ and that was LBJ's boot camp for the presidency of the United States, and relished each page of... Read more
Published 1 month ago by Jack D. Heacock
5.0 out of 5 stars
Caro's Books on LBJ
Comments apply to all four of Caro's books on LBJ. Bought them to help assess validity of my perception of LBJ as one of the most underrated presidents. Read more
Published 1 month ago by Abner Salant
5.0 out of 5 stars
An Amazing Book
Read this volume and the other two. The author not only did extensive research about the subject but also has a wonderful style of st;orytelling.
Published 2 months ago by Shirley Silverman
Citations (learn more)
This book cites 24
books:
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68
books
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- The Years of Lyndon Johnson: The Path to Power by Robert A. Caro on 10 pages
- The Establishment in Texas Politics: The Primitive Years, 1938-1957 (Contributions in Political Science) by George N. Green on 4 pages
- White House Diary by Lady Bird Johnson in Back Matter (1), Back Matter (2), and Back Matter (3)
- The Years of Lyndon Johnson, Vol. 1: The Path to Power by Robert A. Caro in Front Matter, Copyright, and Back Matter
- Off the record: The private papers of Harry S. Truman by Harry S Truman in Back Matter
See all 24 books this book cites
- Border Boss: Manuel B. Bravo and Zapata County (Canseco-Keck History Series) by J. Gilberto Quezada on 9 pages
- The Character Factor: How We Judge America's Presidents (Joseph V. Hughes Jr. and Holly O. Hughes Series on the Presidency and Leadership) by Dr. James P. Pfiffner PhD on 4 pages
- Managing With Power: Politics and Influence in Organizations by Jeffrey Pfeffer in Back Matter (1), Back Matter (2), and Back Matter (3)
- Cronies: Oil, The Bushes, And The Rise Of Texas, America's Superstate by Robert Bryce on page 61, Back Matter (1), and Back Matter (2)
- Shadow on the White House: Presidents and the Vietnam War, 1945-1975 by David L. Anderson on page 109, page 111, and Back Matter
See all 68 books citing this book
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