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The Passage of Power
- The Years of Lyndon Johnson, Book 4
- Narrated by: Grover Gardner
- Length: 32 hrs and 45 mins
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Publisher's Summary
National Book Critics Circle Award, Biography, 2013
The Passage of Power follows Lyndon Johnson through both the most frustrating and the most triumphant periods of his career - 1958 to 1964. It is a time that would see him trade the extraordinary power he had created for himself as Senate Majority Leader for what became the wretched powerlessness of a Vice President in an administration that disdained and distrusted him. Yet it was, as well, the time in which the presidency, the goal he had always pursued, would be thrust upon him in the moment it took an assassin’s bullet to reach its mark.
For the first time, we see the Kennedy assassination through Lyndon Johnson’s eyes. We watch Johnson step into the presidency, inheriting a staff fiercely loyal to his slain predecessor; a Congress determined to retain its power over the executive branch; and a nation in shock and mourning. We see how within weeks - grasping the reins of the presidency with supreme mastery - he propels through Congress essential legislation that at the time of Kennedy’s death seemed hopelessly logjammed and seizes on a dormant Kennedy program to create the revolutionary War on Poverty.
Caro makes clear how the political genius with which Johnson had ruled the Senate now enabled him to make the presidency wholly his own. This was without doubt Johnson’s finest hour, before his aspirations and accomplishments were overshadowed and eroded by the trap of Vietnam.
It is an epic story told with a depth of detail possible only through the peerless research that forms the foundation of Robert Caro’s work, confirming Nicholas von Hoffman’s verdict that “Caro has changed the art of political biography.”
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What listeners say about The Passage of Power
Average Customer RatingsReviews - Please select the tabs below to change the source of reviews.
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- Gerald Demooy
- 2019-07-31
Very Detailed
Very Detailed book that offered both the positives and negatives of John son's personality and gave us some rare insights into the transition.
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2 people found this helpful
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- Charles Bourgeois
- 2023-08-13
Magnificent
The best biography I’ve ever read. Not only well researched but beautifully written. It’s a must for anyone interested in the study of American government or politics.
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- James
- 2024-03-02
Detailed but worth it
It’s a commitment. A 4 part series. At times it can feel a little too much. I’ve listened to two volumes and I’ve gained a lot. Listening to the rise and then the assumption of the presidency has given me great perspective. Well written. Insightful. Reflective. I look forward to the final part in the series and will read it avidly
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