Books by Robert Caro
Means of Ascent
by Robert Caro
His description of Johnson is arresting, complex, entertaining and very educational
“Well, if you look at a picture of a place, you can normally get a sense of what it’s like. But hopefully what books do, or what thinking does, is to show you what that place is like underneath. The Power Broker is the definitive history of how, in modern America, cities get built, power gets thrown around, neighbourhoods are overpowered by developers and politicians. It’s gigantic and it’s a biography, but it reads like the most epic novel of building and money and power. It’s by Robert Caro, who is a master biographer; he went on to write a definitive biography of Lyndon Johnson. And it’s about Robert Moses, the most influential builder and urban planner in the city in the middle of the century. He just decided he was going to do things, change the shape of the land and build a ton of roads and bridges. Whatever you see in the city that is the city—the shape of the city, the body of it—was his doing.” Read more...
The best books on New York City
Ben Greenman, Biographer
The Path to Power: The Years of Lyndon Johnson, Vol I
by Robert Caro
Robert Caro is a master storyteller. He tells a great, gripping story. I’m pretty sure he came to Texas thinking he would write one volume, but he realised that there was an epic tale to tell, and he stuck with it. When the fourth volume is completed, I’m sure it will be seen as the masterwork on Johnson. But each volume is terrific in its own right.
Master of the Senate: The Years of Lyndon Johnson, Vol III
by Robert Caro
It is quite an enterprise to read, but compelling partly because Lyndon Johnson was such a beautifully unattractive character. On the one hand he was an ogre, but on the other hand he was the first person to get any civil rights legislation through the senate since the Civil War.
Interviews where books by Robert Caro were recommended
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1
America's Congress: Actions in the Public Sphere, James Madison Through Newt Gingrich
by David R Mayhew -
2
Disjointed Pluralism: Institutional Innovation and the Development of the U.S. Congress
by Eric Schickler -
3
The Field of Blood: Violence in Congress and the Road to Civil War
by Joanne B Freeman -
4
Master of the Senate: The Years of Lyndon Johnson, Vol III
by Robert Caro -
5
It’s Even Worse Than You Think: How the American Constitutional System Collided with the New Politics of Extremism
Thomas E. Mann & Norman J. Ornstein
The best books on Congress, recommended by Julian E. Zelizer
The best books on Congress, recommended by Julian E. Zelizer
To understand American politics, you have to understand Congress, argues Julian E. Zelizer, Princeton historian and CNN political analyst. He recommends the best books for getting to grips with the nuts and bolts of the Senate and House of Representatives.
The best books on Power and Ideas, recommended by James Purnell
Labour politician, who was the Member of Parliament for Stalybridge and Hyde from 2001 to 2010, says power with no ideas is hollow and chooses his five books on political ideology
The best books on American Presidents, recommended by H W Brands
The best presidential biographies contain insights into both the personal and the political, says the historian HW Brands. He chooses the best biographies of some of the greatest American presidents.
The best books on New York City, recommended by Ben Greenman
The New Yorker’s Ben Greenman selects books that get closer to the heart and history of the city. Street interviews, personal reflections and political struggles reveal NYC’s vibrant but troubled past.
The best books on Change in America, recommended by Van Jones
In the latest instalment of our series on American progressivism, the environmental advocate and human rights activist tells us why the age of Obama will really only begin after the president has left office
