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

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

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

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

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

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

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

An impeccable biography

The first of 4 comprehensive works (with a fifth to come) on the topic, this may be one of the most compelling biographies on any American president - and it's certainly the go-to source for the life of Lyndon Johnson. Grover Gardner's perfect narration makes for a listen that is as entertaining as it is enlightening.

8 people found this helpful

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

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