Lone Star Rising

From the antiwar movement to Robert Caro's recent book, LBJ has been denounced as the self-serving villian of American politics. But the truth, as Bancroft prize-winner Robert Dallek writes in this unequalled account of Johnson's life, was far more complex--and far more interesting. Based on seven years of research in over 450 manuscript collections and oral histories, as well as numerous personal interviews, this first book in a monumental two-volume biography portrays the full...
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From the antiwar movement to Robert Caro's recent book, LBJ has been denounced as the self-serving villian of American politics. But the truth, as Bancroft prize-winner Robert Dallek writes in this unequalled account of Johnson's life, was far more complex--and far more interesting. Based on seven years of research in over 450 manuscript collections and oral histories, as well as numerous personal interviews, this first book in a monumental two-volume biography portrays the full richness of this fascinating, contradictory, larger-than-life personality--an unrivalled master of ruthless, backroom politics who pushed a whole new range of civil rights and social welfare legislation through Congress. Far from whitewashing LBJ's actions, Dallek provides new material on his manipulations as well as a new understanding of his obsession with being on top--even as he shows how Johnson was both the product of a thoroughly corrupt political environment and truly concerned throughout his career for the poor and underprivileged. Ranging from LBJ's childhood through his brilliant reign as Senate majority leader, this book offers an unrivalled look at the man de Gaulle called America's real face.