Welcome to Litsy!

I‘ve been wanting to read Robert Caro‘s books about Lyndon Johnson for forever —hoping to get a start on the first one before this year is up.

#sundayfunday
@BookmarkTavern
#readingispolitical

🥰🙌🏽

Some more potential Dad Bios

⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ Robert Caro is a brilliant writer and I don‘t think anyone has ever done more thorough research. This is the first of 5 volumes about LBJ. The detail is amazing (he went and lived in the TX hill country for years to get to know people so he could get interviews), and sometimes feels like too much, until later you realize how well different threads and themes come together. A big book, but definitely worth a read!

Not about what you might think, given the title. It is instead THE preeminent novel about Texas politics. The cover also features an Austin that looks VERY different than it does today. #bookhaul

This is a beast of a history book that is right in my wheelhouse. It details how the forces of JFK‘s developing interest in protecting the environment came together with Rachel Carson‘s Silent Spring and sent the US forward in developing environmental policy under 3 presidents. I loved it but I would say it‘s definitely necessary to have a strong interest in the topic rather than just a passing one.

I read the 3rd book, Master of the Senate, ~15 years ago because I‘d always been interested in how Congress worked (thank you Mr Smith Goes to Washington) and knew Johnson was instrumental in getting a lot accomplished during his tenure. I went back and read the others because I loved Caro‘s engaging writing style and his thorough research. I both love & hate LBJ: A brilliant strong leader…A despicable controlling man! Caro holds nothing back!

My youngest and I do a informal buddy read every summer. He has been interning in DC all summer. So, we are reading the first in the autobiography series by Robert Caro about LBJ (tagged). I found my copy in this quirky bookstore in Burlington, NJ (where I was visiting a quilt shop). I don‘t recall it‘s name but it‘s on the same street as the quilt shop. Caro is very detailed, but a great writer. Not sure if we‘ll finish by the end of summer 😜.