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The Path to Power
- The Years of Lyndon Johnson
- Narrated by: Grover Gardner
- Length: 40 hrs and 29 mins
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Publisher's Summary
This is the story of the rise to national power of a desperately poor young man from the Texas Hill Country. The Path to Power reveals in extraordinary detail the genesis of the almost superhuman drive, energy, and ambition that set LBJ apart. It follows him from the Hill Country to New Deal Washington, from his boyhood through the years of the Depression to his debut as Congressman, his heartbreaking defeat in his first race for the Senate, and his attainment, nonetheless, at age 31, of the national power for which he hungered.
In this book, we are brought as close as we have ever been to a true perception of political genius and the American political process. Means of Ascent, Book Two of The Years of Lyndon Johnson, was a number-one national best seller and, like The Path to Power, received the National Book Critics Circle Award.
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What listeners say about The Path to Power
Average Customer RatingsReviews - Please select the tabs below to change the source of reviews.
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- Casper Paludan
- 07-30-14
Just fantastic...
If you could sum up The Path to Power in three words, what would they be?
Riveting, dramatic, instructive. The story really is riveting. The initial description of the Hill Country in Texas is so fantastic, poetic, dramatic, revealing, evocative, and rich, that I have gone back several times to listen to it . And I will do so again.
The description of Lyndon's childhood, his fathers travails, rise, and demise and the effect on the family and the boy, are utterly unmatched in contrast and drama. Finally, the way Lyndon copes with it all, using his bright and dark sides to get ahead, ingeniously in both, is very instructive. I believe one can learn as much if not more from the 80% successes than the 100% successes, because their moral or other failings make them come alive more and even a sleazy scheme should be learned from, in that it took drive and courage to perform it, and THAT is never a bad trait to have.
Who was your favorite character and why?
Mr. Sam, Lyndon's dad, is a very powerful and tragic figure and as he falls from grace, and we witness it by painstaking degrees, we develop a love for this character that makes us think of him long after the book is done. I find myself wondering what would have happened if he hadn't done that last unadvisable thing, made that last unsound investment....could he have swung back from failure?...
Which scene was your favorite?
I won't give away the plot by giving a thorough description. It feels like a novel eventhough it isn't..so I know it's silly but I think you should have the pleasure of discovering it yourself.
Lyndon was courting a young lady and her dad didn't think Lyndon a suitable husband for his daughter. the way he tried to humiliate Lyndon is very dramatic. And the way Lyndon got back at him and the family years later, even more so.
Enjoy!
Did you have an extreme reaction to this book? Did it make you laugh or cry?
It made my eyes go wide and it made me shake my head and it moved me.
Any additional comments?
Totally get this, you won't regret it! Also, read The Power Broker
30 people found this helpful
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- David C. Daggett
- 12-14-13
The Best of all Biographies
Where does The Path to Power rank among all the audiobooks you’ve listened to so far?
It's hard to imagine a better book. I was so enamored with Master and Passage that I listened to them twice. The first 120 pages of Master should be required reading in high school classes.
Have you listened to any of Grover Gardner’s other performances before? How does this one compare?
Mr Gardner is the one and only narrator who makes this work. Perfect timing, perfect voice.
Any additional comments?
I literately waited 10 years for Caro/Gardner to make this happen and I'm thrilled they did it. I've listened to over 200 audio books and the Caro/Gardner combo is unsurpassed. "5 star" stuff is easy to think but this one makes it true.
40 people found this helpful
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- DaWoolf
- 10-09-14
My summer with Lyndon
It took me the entire summer of 2014 to complete Robert Caro’s four volume set on Lyndon Baines Johnson (LBJ). That’s over 160 hours of listening engagement and six downloads (“Master of the Senate” is sold in three separate sections to swindle the listener). However, like a lays potato chip, you can’t stop at one volume. Caro’s critically acclaimed masterwork is a contender for the greatest biography ever put to paper. I was actually saddened to complete the series as I found myself yearning for the release of the 5th and final volume.
Caro’s LBJ series is best described as a micro analysis of about amassing and exercising of power over others. For most of the work, the reader will learn how through duplicitous and manipulative means, LBJ acquired and wielded power. The 36th President displayed an innate motivation and skill that drove him to outwork and outthink his opponents. His drive for power is evident from the earliest years growing up in poverty in near Johnson City, Texas. Caro’s ability to describe the early life LBJ is done so expertly that the reader becomes totally engrossed in the story. Caro descriptions of LBJ’s childhood, economics conditions of South Texas, and socio economic conditions are full of passion and entertainment.
As a listener, you should know within 10-minutes of listening to the introduction if “Path to Power” is the right choice for you. Caro starts each book in the series with an overview. I found these introductions riveting and knew within a few minutes that I selected a winner. The LBJ series is also narrated by Grover Gardener, who is my opinion the very best audible reader in the business.
28 people found this helpful
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- DPM
- 01-14-14
amazing
wow.
Some time ago I listened to the last ( so far) in this series "Passage to Power". THAT is a good book! So much so, I always had in the back in my mind to listen to the others. But- 60-120 hours or whatever it will end up being??? However, Gardner is superb as an narrator ( I've listened to him multiple times) so for my New Years resolution I thought I would undertake. The first book goes only to 1941, Johnson's term as a congressman, and I was apprehensive - 40 hours just to get that far? Well - it was fascinating. Every step of the way. Deeper and more compelling than the majority ( if not all) of biographies I have read, and I read this genre a lot.
I cannot speak highly enough of the combination of Caro/Gardner. I have immediately downloaded Book 2 without hesitation
It is a long haul, but thoroughly enjoyable so far.
Highly recommend.
18 people found this helpful
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- Brian
- 06-19-14
Excellent biography, excellent narration
Where does The Path to Power rank among all the audiobooks you’ve listened to so far?
It's up there
What was the most compelling aspect of this narrative?
So well researched, so well written.
Have you listened to any of Grover Gardner’s other performances before? How does this one compare?
Nope
Was this a book you wanted to listen to all in one sitting?
Ha, no - one might die.
Any additional comments?
Never hated a main character in a biography so much, but can't turn away from the train wreck. Now on to part II!
6 people found this helpful
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- Doug Kerfoot
- 03-12-14
Excellent
What made the experience of listening to The Path to Power the most enjoyable?
This is a fascinating story of a complex and conflicted man. Does an excellent job of describing Johnson's early life without resorting to pop psychology. Johnson is a much more interesting character than I had previously suspected and this series fills a hole in my understanding of the man and his times.
My only criticism is that there is far too much overlap between this book and the next in the series Means of Ascent. Both are very worthy books on their own, but it felt like perhaps 20% of Means of Ascent is directly copied from this book. Same stories, same wording. It seems as though Robert Caro literally copied and pasted big sections into the 2nd book. Still very worthwhile, but the 2nd book becomes tedious in this regard. I am saving a lower rating for the 2nd book because of this.
Have you listened to any of Grover Gardner’s other performances before? How does this one compare?
Grover Gardner is one of my all time favorite readers. This book is no exception.
10 people found this helpful
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- Damian
- 04-09-17
As engrossing a biography as I've ever read
And unfortunately about a man who seems to embody Machiavelli's "the prince". The ruthlessness and conniving machinations of LBJ set against the brawny hardscrabble backdrop of turn-of-the-century and pre-World War II Texas makes volume one a fantastic read
4 people found this helpful
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- Darwin8u
- 01-10-17
The Pulsing History of LBJ's Early Years
"...if Lyndon Johnson was not a reader of books, he was a reader of men--a reader with a rare ability to see into their souls."
-- Robert A Caro, The Path to Power
If the next three (and the final, yet to be written book) are as polished and well-researched as this one, this may end up being the definitive biography of any president. I loved Morris' Theodore Roosevelt Trilogy. It and Ron Chernow's biography of Alexander Hamilton were nearly tied in my affection and esteem as my favorite political biographies. This one just jumped ahead.
Caro writes as well about place and people as John McPhee. He seems to possess all the qualities you want in an academic and popular historian. I bought these novels years ago. They sat collecting dust behind me and haunted me, but I was afraid to pick them up. They are just damn intimidating. Not just their thickness, but also the heft. The books are dense and heavy. So, each time I turned to read them, I imagined some immense mountain I would need to climb. But Caro's narrative is so easy, so fascinating, so compelling that the mountain practically pulls you up. After the first chapter I had a hard time putting this beast down.
20 people found this helpful
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- RANDALL JAFFE
- 01-15-14
Best Biography I have heard, Reads like a novel.
Would you recommend this audiobook to a friend? If so, why?
This book demonstrates that a persons life is a combination of his family upbringing, his environment, his drive to succeed, AND that incalculable factor of LUCK, things happening at a time that will benefit or hurt one's life journey.
What was the most compelling aspect of this narrative?
The author examines not only the person, but his parents AND their parents. He brings out the flavor of the poor hill country of Texas and the people who tried to survive in a hostile environment.
What does Grover Gardner bring to the story that you wouldn’t experience if you just read the book?
Very easy to listen to his expressive mellow voice
If you could give The Path to Power a new subtitle, what would it be?
Incredibly detailed story of the making of a remarkable leader.
Any additional comments?
I cant wait for someone to make a movie of this book.Absolutely riviting tale of a man coming from nowhere, with a childhood that seemed to lead to a life of physical toil to a man who is acnolodged to be a great president of the U.S.
11 people found this helpful
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- Jesse J. Countryman
- 07-21-20
Great books
Love Caro's books on LBJ, read a couple listened to a couple, all of them good.
2 people found this helpful
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- PauseToThink
- 10-14-15
Compelling story of a complex man
I had resisted reading a biography of Lyndon Johnston partly because I instinctively disliked him, my knowledge of him having come mainly from books about JFK. When the two are
compared, Johnston always seemed the lesser man, a large, loud, burly Texan who resented JFK's presidency and schemed against him. Having read so many excellent and positive reviews of Robert A Caro, and being interested in the mid 20th century setting, I decided to give it a go. I'm so glad I did. I can't honestly say I now like Johnston, but the character who emerges from Caro's flowing narrative and Grover Gardner's impeccable and utterly listenable to narration is so complex, compelling and interesting that I cannot wait to start the next volume. Johnston may not have been likeable, but there is no doubt that he was clever, ambitious, manipulative and so phenomenally capable that he drove himself to heights no one could ever have imagined.
8 people found this helpful
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- Derrick
- 04-01-20
Magisterial, engrossing, powerful
A 40 hour book which only goes as far as the man's senatorial election at the age of 32 seems excessive, and I challenge anyone not to be daunted by this book. But in reality, it is wonderful. I came to it from a podcast by modern political academic David Runciman, describing Caro's biography of Johnson as the "politicians' favourite biography, citing Micheal Howard as one such fan.
With that recommendation I tried it, albeit with some trepidation. I should not have worried. This book deserves its reputation. Caro's research is not burdensome, but worn lightly and enables him to bring a lost age to life, painting rich, colourful landscapes of the land and people. There are heroes, cowards and villains. Great figures of America history move through the story continually, but the real value is just the way Caro brings this time into vivid, detailed reality.
At the centre is, of course, Lyndon Johnson. His meteoric rise is masterfully described. One really feels that he is brought to life, with texture, depth and credibility. Is he an attractive character? Absolutely not. Is he compelling? Completely. I started wondering if I would finish it. I ended up wishing it could be longer.
This is a great biography.
7 people found this helpful
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- Chris
- 07-09-14
Makes politics utterly compelling
Would you recommend this audiobook to a friend? If so, why?
Absolutely: it casts an extraordinary light on the whole period of the late 50s and early 60s, through its focus on Lyndon Johnson's troubled journey to the Presidency of the USA, and it does so in an utterly compelling way.
What other book might you compare The Path to Power to, and why?
It is Shakesperian in its focus on the hunger for power, and the emotions that go with the struggle to achieve it.
Have you listened to any of Grover Gardner’s other performances? How does this one compare?
Never listened to this reader before, but I think he is superb for the demands of this very, very long book.
If you made a film of this book, what would be the tag line be?
The Desire for Power
Any additional comments?
I now look forward to reading the other volumes of Caro's biography of LBJ.
4 people found this helpful
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- michael Billington
- 12-10-13
The epic story of LBJ's early years
What made the experience of listening to The Path to Power the most enjoyable?
Excellently narrated by Grover Gardner who handles Caro's amazing prose perfectly.
What other book might you compare The Path to Power to, and why?
Master of the senate, the passage of power
Which scene did you most enjoy?
The detailed account of Johnson first campaign for the congress
3 people found this helpful
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- Anonymous User
- 03-26-14
LBJ dissected by Caro
Any additional comments?
Robert A. Caro’s detailed biography of Lyndon Baines Johnson, up to his loss of the 1941 senatorial election is also a social history of Texas as it evolved during Johnson’s life. Through interviews with associates and relatives of this secretive man, Caro has built up a picture, which though not pretty, is absolutely fascinating. Thorough research has provided conclusive evidence of LBJ’s relentless pursuit of his goals - ultimately the presidency of the United States, though this part of the bio does not take us so far. The description of Texas itself is integral to the narrative. This is no dry biography, but a complete picture of the man, the landscape that shaped him and the society he helped to shape. The vivid recreations of personal interactions evoke a strong, if not always likeable personality. Caro’s intelligent reading ensures enjoyment of the listening experience. I was surprised at how I was impelled to listen at every available opportunity until I had finished this lengthy political analysis.
2 people found this helpful
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- booklover
- 09-14-20
Epic
One of the best books I have ever read. The narrator is superb. A journey through the American century.
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- Tommy
- 06-10-20
Beautifully Written
The pace never sags for even a moment in this beautifully written and wonderfully narrated account of the early life and career of the enigmatic Lyndon Johnson.
1 person found this helpful
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- Arctic Dragonfly
- 04-15-22
Highly engaging!
A great narration of a great book about a fascinating character. The length of the book might seem daunting, but the narration is highly digestible.
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- Mrs L. Modlock
- 04-03-22
Excellent. A great history lesson
Excellent. A fascinating biography and insight into American politics. Also great background information about Texas and how the country people lived. Well narrated.
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- Anonymous User
- 11-13-21
Master piece!
Entertaining, convincing, through,…The best ever biography of US president, or be more precise, an era!!
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- Roland
- 01-27-17
Incredible Narration to a fantastic story
It's well known that this Pulitzer prize winning story is incredible. An incredibly story well written.
Nobody reading this is review unaware of that.
But the Narration!
Grover obviously understood the story. He obviously has great respect for the effort to write it. You simply couldn't ask for better Narration.
Really brought the story to life.
I had psychically read that book and got a lot out of it. Grover showed me there is a lot more in there. I'm going to to listen the Grover more often.
1 person found this helpful
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- Anonymous User
- 01-18-22
Worth sticking with
Covers a lot more American history and American political history than just being solely about Lyndon Johnson. A couple early chapters with a bit too much detail but worth sticking with. Many interesting characters with real depth and conflicting motivations and personalities makes it a great listen. Outstanding narration and amount of research. On to book 2!
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- Anonymous User
- 08-22-21
Sensational. Enthralling. Panoramic
Absolutely loved it. It gripped me from the opening pages. Not only does Caro dissect ambition & power, his sensitivity and humanity add further dimensions to this book. I found some of the most memorable chapters were about land degradation and women's domestic labour, and of the reflections by those who had been used & betrayed by LBJ. Extraordinary reading of a panoramic book. I'm in for the long haul & really looking forward to the next volumes, & hope Caro lives long enough to finish Volume 5
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- Anonymous User
- 06-17-19
Spectacular.
Brilliant vocalisation of one of the great historical biographies. Engaging prose, diligent research and a riveting subject.
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- StuartR
- 12-21-18
Enthralling
Fascinating coverage of the early life of LBJ. The author portrays a description of a man whose personality was both repellent and intriguing. In fact, he was so horrible that I had to stop listening for a while. But, I came back and got back into the story. It was worth it as Caro’s writing is so compelling, and Gardner’s narration is as always, a joy. What struck me was the frightening similarity between LBJ and Trump in behavior and approach. A great book.