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Caro understands his subjects so so well that you feel you are inside their heads. Caro’s works have spoiled me — other biographies feel out-of-focus and surfa

Caro understands his subjects so so well that you feel you are inside their heads. Caro’s works have spoiled me — other biographies feel out-of-focus and surface-level and speculative. (And all this despite the fact that Caro isn’t even really focusing directly on his subjects, because actually his books are about power and its dynamics.)

misiti3780 4y ago
I agree, I remember in the LBJ books he spent hundreds of pages talking about Richard Russell, Coke Stevenson, and Sam Rayburn -- As I was reading, I was thinking "Why is he writing a biography within a biography on these people?". Once you get to the end, it all makes sense. I really hope we get that 5th book.
- mynameishere 4y ago
  Just as a side note, I remember an interview with Caro in which he discusses Dick Russell with a very obvious hatred that does not come across in the book. I don't know if it developed over time or if the book is disingenuously "even-handed" or what.
  - barry-cotter 4y ago
    For the ignorant. https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Richard_Russell_Jr https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Richard_Russell_Jr. Richard Brevard Russell Jr. (November 2, 1897 – January 21, 1971) was an American politician. A member of the Democratic Party, he served as the 66th Governor of Georgia from 1931 to 1933 before serving in the United States Senate for almost 40 years, from 1933 to 1971. Russell was a founder and leader of the conservative coalition that dominated Congress from 1937 to 1963, and at his death was the most senior member of the Senate.[1][2] He was for decades a leader of Southern opposition to the civil rights movement.[3]
woodruffw 4y ago
If you like Caro’s approach to biography, I suggest Carl Sandburg’s biography of Abraham Lincoln. Sandburg is much better known for his poetry, but I found his style and attention to detail engrossing in the same way that Caro usually is.
superposeur 4y ago
Completely agree, there is a "texture" to Caro missing from all other biographies I've read (indeed, almost all other books). At once more vivid, detailed, complex, and rich, with first-hand access to new sources and interviews (something a biographer of a long-dead figure could never achieve). You feel as though you are getting the real scoop even for subjects you thought you understood. After reading Caro, I'm left with the sad impression that there is probably a more vivid layer to most historical events at odds with the "cartoon" layer that has been passed down, but which we will never know because the singular figure of Caro was not there to chronicle it.
wellthisisgreat 4y ago
the only other book that scratched the Caro itch was the Montefiore's books about Stalin. The Churchill's biography was also ok, but Stalin's were more revelatory for me. The off-handed mention of Putin's grandfather, personal chef of Stalin, who's been famously obsessed over not getting poisoned, explains so much about today's Russia

misiti3780 4y ago

I agree, I remember in the LBJ books he spent hundreds of pages talking about Richard Russell, Coke Stevenson, and Sam Rayburn -- As I was reading, I was thinking "Why is he writing a biography within a biography on these people?". Once you get to the end, it all makes sense. I really hope we get that 5th book.

mynameishere 4y ago
Just as a side note, I remember an interview with Caro in which he discusses Dick Russell with a very obvious hatred that does not come across in the book. I don't know if it developed over time or if the book is disingenuously "even-handed" or what.
- barry-cotter 4y ago
  For the ignorant. https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Richard_Russell_Jr https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Richard_Russell_Jr. Richard Brevard Russell Jr. (November 2, 1897 – January 21, 1971) was an American politician. A member of the Democratic Party, he served as the 66th Governor of Georgia from 1931 to 1933 before serving in the United States Senate for almost 40 years, from 1933 to 1971. Russell was a founder and leader of the conservative coalition that dominated Congress from 1937 to 1963, and at his death was the most senior member of the Senate.[1][2] He was for decades a leader of Southern opposition to the civil rights movement.[3]

woodruffw 4y ago

If you like Caro’s approach to biography, I suggest Carl Sandburg’s biography of Abraham Lincoln. Sandburg is much better known for his poetry, but I found his style and attention to detail engrossing in the same way that Caro usually is.

superposeur 4y ago

Completely agree, there is a "texture" to Caro missing from all other biographies I've read (indeed, almost all other books). At once more vivid, detailed, complex, and rich, with first-hand access to new sources and interviews (something a biographer of a long-dead figure could never achieve). You feel as though you are getting the real scoop even for subjects you thought you understood. After reading Caro, I'm left with the sad impression that there is probably a more vivid layer to most historical events at odds with the "cartoon" layer that has been passed down, but which we will never know because the singular figure of Caro was not there to chronicle it.

wellthisisgreat 4y ago

the only other book that scratched the Caro itch was the Montefiore's books about Stalin. The Churchill's biography was also ok, but Stalin's were more revelatory for me. The off-handed mention of Putin's grandfather, personal chef of Stalin, who's been famously obsessed over not getting poisoned, explains so much about today's Russia