Robert Caro's LBJ books: Great or hit pieces?

[DevotedDemocrat]

Are they legitimate, great works, or are they Conservative-esque/anti-LBJ hit pieces? I've heard that they are very anti-LBJ from some, and that they're very good from others....

[traininthedistance]

Are they legitimate, great works, or are they Conservative-esque/anti-LBJ hit pieces? I've heard that they are very anti-LBJ from some, and that they're very good from others....

I don't see how this is an either/or question when both/and is a perfectly legitimate stance to take.

But, to the extent they're anti-LBJ, my sense is that they criticize him from the left, or at least from a non-partisan stance that is focused on process and integrity, and is not "right wing" by any stretch of the imagination.  Caro is certainly a liberal, in any case.

[Beet]

Means of Ascent was the most hit piecey; one can see why the Johnson family hated him. But I got the distinct sense even then that he wasn't a conservative, and part of him actually admires Johnson's ruthlessness.

[RogueBeaver]

I own, have read and love all the Caro books. Caro's criticism of LBJ is on ethics, opportunism, character and ideologically, criticizing him from the left. I'd call them masterpieces of political biography.

[FEMA Camp Administrator]

Are they legitimate, great works, or are they Conservative-esque/anti-LBJ hit pieces? I've heard that they are very anti-LBJ from some, and that they're very good from others....

Why are the two mutually exclusive?

[DevotedDemocrat]

Are they legitimate, great works, or are they Conservative-esque/anti-LBJ hit pieces? I've heard that they are very anti-LBJ from some, and that they're very good from others....

Why are the two mutually exclusive?

Conservatives have their agenda--Defund every program going back to TR. Anything written by a modern day Conservative isn't something I can support.

[ag]

Are they legitimate, great works, or are they Conservative-esque/anti-LBJ hit pieces? I've heard that they are very anti-LBJ from some, and that they're very good from others....

Best political biography in history. No, they are not "hit pieces". And, most definitely, they are not written from any identifiable "Conservative" (small or large "c") standpoint (the implicit criticism of the main character, whenever it is there, does not come from the "right" at all).  Caro is interested in how power works in government. That is what he is examining in great detail. Now, LBJ was a master of power - so there is a lot to explore. And, naturally, power is not about being an altar boy, singing pretty. And LBJ was not an altar boy. So, there is a lot of ugly stuff there. But  it is all meticulously researched and wonderfully written. A must read for anyone interested in politics.

[traininthedistance]

Are they legitimate, great works, or are they Conservative-esque/anti-LBJ hit pieces? I've heard that they are very anti-LBJ from some, and that they're very good from others....

Why are the two mutually exclusive?

Conservatives have their agenda--Defund every program going back to TR. Anything written by a modern day Conservative isn't something I can support.

You need to disabuse yourself of the notion that (sharp) criticism of LBJ or any other "liberal hero" is necessarily motivated by conservative goals, or even that anything written by people with ideological predilections not your own is worthless, and only worth opposing instead of grappling with.  Down that path lies an intellectual and moral desert, and, ultimately, ruin.

[Oswald Acted Alone, You Kook]

It's not anti-LBJ, it's more about showing the man for who he really is.

[The Mikado]

Probably the most powerful bit to me is the Leland Olds chapter, showing how Johnson adapted McCarthyite tactics to smear Olds, a talented career bureaucrat in rural electrification, as a communist to prevent his reappointment.  It's a disgraceful story.

EDIT: That's not getting into his blatantly rigged "victory" over Coke Stevenson in 1948.

They're great books, but LBJ did a lot of horrible, horrible stuff over his career and Caro airs it all.