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jasonwith_y's review against another edition
5.0
I started this book during our trip to Austin and couldn't put it down. It feels blasphemous (considering where the Kennedy's stand in my political mythology), but I've come to believe LBJ to be one of the most effective and interesting (if tragic) leaders Americans have ever had. This account in particular, written after Kearns' intimate relationship with the president, gives an incredibly revealing portrayal. She'll cite political science on the one hand then follow it up with the recurring dreams that the president had confided to her on the other. I began to strangely identify with the man (he did teach elementary school before politics!) who was so full of contradictions and so full of life. Even if you're not a politics nerd like me, this book is fascinating.
thehodgenator's review against another edition
4.0
I liked the setup of this biography on LBJ.
We are walked through history, sticking to the main elements of LBJ the man and the politician. The style of writing was not dry as found in a lot of political biographies.
I enjoyed reading more about his time growing up and understanding the value of hard work, and learning where his passion to help those in poverty was formed.
We are walked through history, sticking to the main elements of LBJ the man and the politician. The style of writing was not dry as found in a lot of political biographies.
I enjoyed reading more about his time growing up and understanding the value of hard work, and learning where his passion to help those in poverty was formed.
bowienerd_82's review
3.0
I saw a criticism somewhere that said that this book read a bit like Doris Kearns Goodwin's dissertation, and I can certainly see why someone might think that. This book was her first and it shows, but it was still an interesting and thorough analysis of a complex man.
I do have to wonder how this book would look if she had written it today instead of nearly 40 years ago, and what changes would come with more of a historical perspective. Especially considering that DKG knew Johnson and worked with him (I occasionally found it a bit startling to come to sections where she would suddenly switch to using "I" and relating her own experiences).
I do have to wonder how this book would look if she had written it today instead of nearly 40 years ago, and what changes would come with more of a historical perspective. Especially considering that DKG knew Johnson and worked with him (I occasionally found it a bit startling to come to sections where she would suddenly switch to using "I" and relating her own experiences).
verumsolum's review
3.0
I came into this book knowing almost nothing beyond the fact that Johnson had been president. And I learned a lot about him and his life. It was not always enjoyable reading, but I did enjoy the learning, so persisted anyway.
I will admit to relief that it is finished, especially as I could often find myself making parallels between Johnson’s flaws and those of the current occupant of the Oval Office. Those parallels were discouraging to me (even if the parallels I saw are simplistic or inaccurate)
I will admit to relief that it is finished, especially as I could often find myself making parallels between Johnson’s flaws and those of the current occupant of the Oval Office. Those parallels were discouraging to me (even if the parallels I saw are simplistic or inaccurate)
supatrey's review
4.0
Modern history isn’t really my thing, but I was curious. This is an interesting biography mostly for the psychological emphasis in the story.
mburnamfink's review
4.0
I am a man of ambition. Lesser ambition than some, my ambition extend towards actually reading Caro's magnum opus on LBJ. But until volume five arrives, there's Goodwin's biography. Goodwin has the advantage of personal knowledge. She was a White House fellow working on the Great Society, even as she was an anti-war figure on the New Left. After his presidency, she collaborated on his failed memoirs. When she speaks of the LBJ charm, the way that he could make you the center of the universe or freeze you out entire, it is from personal experience. This very closeness is both the strength and weakness of the book. As much as she is an expert, Goodwin uses a rather hoary psychodynamic theoretical paradigm, explaining Johnson's actions in relation to his mother and his childhood. The book becomes as much about Johnson's perceptions of events as the events themselves.
Johnson's early childhood was centered around his mother, an intellectual and aesthetic woman stifled by the strictures of Texas society, and his slightly disreputable and perennially hustling father, an entrepreneur and local politician in the prairie populist vein. Through his early career, Johnson made an art of two principles of power. The first was apprenticeship to powerful men, from the head of his college to leaders in the House and Senate. The second was master of hidden structures of meeting scheduling, office space, and using agenda setting to toss out a complacent old guard in favor of Johnson. For LBJ power was defined by patronage and negotiation. He could get you what you wanted, as long as you gave him what he wanted, which seemed like an eminently reasonable trade at the time. But what Johnson really wanted was 'just a little appreciation for what he did'. The goal of Johnson's political maneuvers was always to cast the other party into a potentially limitless sense of obligation, a tactic which worked against equals who had their own bases of support.
Johnson's ascension to the presidency meant that he had no equals. Final able to wield power, fettered only by the Constitution, Johnson embarked on his Great Society, a mass of new social programs. He also escalated America's involvement in Vietnam, seeing it as a necessary test of America's commitment to its allies and principles. Both endeavors ended in fiasco. Vietnam became a quagmire, the strategy of 'controlled escalation bombing' a fiasco. Distracted by the war, Johnson did not devote his talents to the Great Society, and its programs were consumed in a similar quagmire. A master of small groups, Johnson froze when speaking before a large audience, when he was unable to understand and mirror their psychological needs. The public image he had crafted of the all-powerful technocrat crumbled under the realities of the late 60s. Johnson had carefully avoided testing his public support, trusting in a 'solid center' that turned out not to exist after the early primaries.
This is often a fascinating book, and best when it quotes Johnson extensively. But it's also oddly underspecified for a serious history, without much of a sense of the details of the time. At something like 10% of the pagecount of Caro's books, less detail is a natural authorial choice, but this book may go too far in the other direction.
Johnson's early childhood was centered around his mother, an intellectual and aesthetic woman stifled by the strictures of Texas society, and his slightly disreputable and perennially hustling father, an entrepreneur and local politician in the prairie populist vein. Through his early career, Johnson made an art of two principles of power. The first was apprenticeship to powerful men, from the head of his college to leaders in the House and Senate. The second was master of hidden structures of meeting scheduling, office space, and using agenda setting to toss out a complacent old guard in favor of Johnson. For LBJ power was defined by patronage and negotiation. He could get you what you wanted, as long as you gave him what he wanted, which seemed like an eminently reasonable trade at the time. But what Johnson really wanted was 'just a little appreciation for what he did'. The goal of Johnson's political maneuvers was always to cast the other party into a potentially limitless sense of obligation, a tactic which worked against equals who had their own bases of support.
Johnson's ascension to the presidency meant that he had no equals. Final able to wield power, fettered only by the Constitution, Johnson embarked on his Great Society, a mass of new social programs. He also escalated America's involvement in Vietnam, seeing it as a necessary test of America's commitment to its allies and principles. Both endeavors ended in fiasco. Vietnam became a quagmire, the strategy of 'controlled escalation bombing' a fiasco. Distracted by the war, Johnson did not devote his talents to the Great Society, and its programs were consumed in a similar quagmire. A master of small groups, Johnson froze when speaking before a large audience, when he was unable to understand and mirror their psychological needs. The public image he had crafted of the all-powerful technocrat crumbled under the realities of the late 60s. Johnson had carefully avoided testing his public support, trusting in a 'solid center' that turned out not to exist after the early primaries.
This is often a fascinating book, and best when it quotes Johnson extensively. But it's also oddly underspecified for a serious history, without much of a sense of the details of the time. At something like 10% of the pagecount of Caro's books, less detail is a natural authorial choice, but this book may go too far in the other direction.
komet2020's review
5.0
I picked this book up at a used book sale on Constitution Ave., NW, in Washington DC many years ago and was enthralled with it. Here is a book that gives a reader access into former President Lyndon Johnson as he was, mainly during his Presidency and shortly after his return to Texas for the last time. Doris Kearns Goodwin first met Johnson when she came to the White House in 1967 to serve an internship from Harvard. And after Johnson left the White House, she also worked with him on his presidential papers. All in all, it was a very rewarding experience to read this book, which I recommend highly.
rbkegley's review
3.0
Being honest about my level of enjoyment, I could only rate 3 stars, but that's not a comment about the excellent writing in this book. Having read the four released volumes in Robert Caro's landmark biography of Johnson multiple times, Goodwin's book seems small by comparison. If you want to read about this fascinating president, however, and aren't up to 3000-4000 pages on him, this is one of the best!
smcscot's review
4.0
Doris Kearns Goodwin does it again. She was able to put together a political biography that encompassed a very flawed man, and how he went on to have a good presidency with one huge glaring issue. What I didn't actually realize is that Goodwin actually interned with Johnson for a brief time, giving her an amazingly intimate view of how JOhnson thought, and a glimpse into his more tender personality traits.
It is truly amazing that a man who grew up in a small Texas town would do more for civil rights than any other president (with the exception of Lincoln). It is equally tragic that because of his insecurities and his desire to bring everyone together he created the biggest gaff in presidential history (he was in no way criminal like Nixon was in his dealings with Vietnam.). To do all this and then tie it into the American Dream, the American ideal for what we believe is the point of our country and the point of our lives...it is just brilliant. Please read Goodwin.
It is truly amazing that a man who grew up in a small Texas town would do more for civil rights than any other president (with the exception of Lincoln). It is equally tragic that because of his insecurities and his desire to bring everyone together he created the biggest gaff in presidential history (he was in no way criminal like Nixon was in his dealings with Vietnam.). To do all this and then tie it into the American Dream, the American ideal for what we believe is the point of our country and the point of our lives...it is just brilliant. Please read Goodwin.