The most riveting political biography of our time, Robert A.Caro’s life of Lyndon B. Johnson, continues. Master of theSenate takes Johnson’s story through one of its most remarkableperiods: his twelve years, from 1949 through 1960, in the UnitedStates Senate. Once the most august and revered body in politics,by the time Johnson arrived the Senate had become a parody ofitself and an obstacle that for decades had blocked desperatelyneeded liberal legislation. Caro shows how Johnson’s brilliance,charm, and ruthlessness enabled him to become the youngest and mostpowerful Majority Leader in history and how he used hisincomparable legislative genius--seducing both Northern liberalsand Southern conservatives--to pass the first Civil Rightslegislation since Reconstruction. Brilliantly weaving rich detailinto a gripping narrative, Caro gives us both a galvanizingportrait of Johnson himself and a definitive and revelatory studyof the workings of legislative power.
