The Years of Lyndon Johnson: The Path to Power

The first in Robert Caro's multi-volume biography on Lyndon B. Johnson and definitely not the last I will be reading. While The Power Broker is the only other Caro book I have read, it feels like Caro with its extensive research and incredible details while still maintaining a narrative.

In terms of details and research, the context and setting of Hill Country and Texas are absolutely central to a good portion of this book. In Caro's narrative, the very geology of Hill Country created a trap, which bound the farmers who settled there to poverty. And this point is really driven home, by tracing the lives of Johnson's ancestors and their struggles in Hill Country.

And in the typical Caro fashion, this context is not just there for the sake of detail. It is there to reveal the everyday human struggles. The chapter on life pre-electricity in Hill Country drives home the hardships of farmers and their wives.

When compared to The Power Broker (which is tall order), The Path to Power has less of the humanity that makes The Power Broker so good. It often felt more like a chronological series of events and less like a narrative. But good nonetheless.