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A.J. Howard's Reviews > The Passage of Power
The Passage of Power (The Years of Lyndon Johnson, #4)
by Robert A. Caro
by Robert A. Caro
A.J. Howard's review
bookshelves: biography, finished-in-2012, history, six-stars
May 25, 12
bookshelves: biography, finished-in-2012, history, six-stars
Read from May 03 to 25, 2012
Since the summer 2005, when I read the previous three volumes of Caro's majestic Years of Lyndon Johnson series, I have periodically checked the internet for updates on the final volume's release. When I saw that it was available for pre-order on Amazon I loudly whooped. I kinda hope that bookstores do a midnight release so I can dress up like Sam Rayburn and stay up reading all night. I may be crazy, but doesn't that cover look pretty sexy? Yes, my name is A.J., and I'm am fully aware that I'm a dork.
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Reading Progress
| 05/03/2012 | page 1 |
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0.0% | "Ha! Just realized that this isn't the last volume. Caro announced last year that he needed a 5th. Pretty sure it was originally conceived as a 3 volume work. Caro is the history nerd's George R.R. Martin." |
Comments (showing 1-7 of 7) (7 new)
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I have one very serious complaint about Mr. Caro, which is that he is cranking out these volumes far too slowly. I pre-ordered this one back in February and thought about staying up until midnight last night so I could download it to my Kindle before going to bed, but then I realized that would probably keep me up until dawn reading it. Meanwhile, I am writing this comment just before starting my workday, and your idea about dressing up as Sam Rayburn for the midnight release has given me what will surely be my best laugh of the day. Perhaps only a nerdy history buff such as me would appreciate that, but I most certainly do!I finally downloaded the volume shortly after 7 a.m. and will start reading it later this morning. Mr. Caro tells a compelling story and does it exceptionally well.
This photo and story from my Flickr page are right on topic, and you might find them both amusing:
http://www.flickr.com/photos/gwilmore...
The book is out now and it mangles the JFK assassination. Frankly, it is an epic fail by America's most acclaimed biographer.If you want to get quickly “up to speed” on the JFK assassination, here is what to read:
1) LBJ: Mastermind of JFK’s Assassination by Phillip Nelson
2) JFK and the Unspeakable:Why He Died and Why it Matters by James Douglass
3) Brothers: the Hidden History of the Kennedy Years by David Talbot
4) The Dark Side of Camelot by Seymour Hersh
5) Family of Secrets: The Bush Dynasty by Russ Baker
6) Power Beyond Reason: The Mental Collapse of Lyndon Johnson by Jablow Hershman
7) Google the essay “LBJ-CIA Assassination of JFK” by Robert Morrow
8) Google “National Security State and the Assassination of JFK by Andrew Gavin Marshall.”
9) Google “Chip Tatum Pegasus.” Intimidation of Ross Perot 1992
10) Google “Vincent Salandria False Mystery Speech.” Read everything Vincent Salandria ever wrote.
11) Google "Unanswered Questions as Obama Annoints HW Bush" by Russ Baker
12) Google "Did the Bushes Help to Kill JFK" by Wim Dankbaar
13) Google "The Holy Grail of the JFK story" by Jefferson Morley
14) Google "The CIA and the Media" by Carl Bernstein
15) Google "CIA Instruction to Media Assets 4/1/67"
16) Google "Limit CIA Role to Intelligence" Harry Truman on 12/22/63
17) Google "Dwight Eisenhower Farewell Address" on 1/17/61
18) Google "Jerry Policoff NY Times." Read everything Jerry Policoff ever wrote about the CIA media cover up of the JFK assassination.
19) Google "CBS News and the Lone Assassin Story" by Roger Feinman"
20) Google "Reasoning about Assassinations" by James Fetzer
I listened to this the other day, and thought you might find it interesting...http://www.npr.org/2012/05/01/1517456...
Ha, agreed. I hope he can get the final volume done. At least this volume only took ten years! and not 12 like Master of the Senate.
I feel exactly the same way, but you can read slowly and savor since there is one more volume for him to write. Let's hope we all live long enough to read it.
Forgive if a certain presumption is necessary at this late , highly corporate, stage of "democracy". I think this book is bad, and has been favorably reviewed because it is so safe. Here is a dissenting view. I intend only to provoke democratic yaking, which is so difficult in today's completely corporate world, where all disagreement about what really matters is niched until the body politic is a corpse http://www.goodreads.com/review/show/...
freaking out.