These laws boil down to being as ruthless, selfish, manipulative, and deceitful as possible. This power game can be played well or poorly, and in these 48 laws culled from the history and wisdom of the world’s greatest power players are the rules that must be followed to win. We live today as courtiers once did in royal courts: we must appear civil while attempting to crush all those around us. The authors have created a sort of anti-Book of Virtues in this encyclopedic compendium of the ways and means of power.Įveryone wants power and everyone is in a constant duplicitous game to gain more power at the expense of others, according to Greene, a screenwriter and former editor at Esquire (Elffers, a book packager, designed the volume, with its attractive marginalia). The Johnson project deserves equal praise. The author writes that the next book "will be very different in tone."īefore beginning the Johnson biography, Caro published a life of Robert Moses, The Power Broker (1974), a book many scholars consider a watershed in contemporary biography. The fifth volume is in the works, and it is expected to cover Johnson's election to the White House and his full term, with the conduct of the Vietnam War ceaselessly dogging him. The evidence seems strong that JFK could not have engineered passage of much of the civil-rights legislation because he lacked Johnson's influence over members of Congress. On a more upbeat track, the author explains how Johnson's lifelong commitment to helping the dispossessed led to passage of unprecedented civil-rights legislation. Caro documents the feuds between them and vividly relates how the warfare between the two men continued after JFK's assassination. When Robert became not only his brother's confidant but also his attorney general, Johnson resented the appointment. However, Johnson and Robert Kennedy could not put aside the animosity that had taken root on Capitol Hill. Senate, Johnson seems to have developed a grudging admiration for JFK.
Though he chafed as vice president after giving up the leadership of the U.S.
While documenting the progression of his subject's character flaws, Caro admires Johnson's adroit adaptability. Even Johnson acolytes, sometimes critical about portions of the earlier volumes, are less likely to complain about their hero's portrayal here. As in the earlier volumes, Caro ( Master of the Senate, 2002, etc.) combines a compelling narrative and insightful authorial judgments into a lengthy volume that will thrill those who care about American politics, the foundations of power, or both. Kennedy, his ascension to the presidency after the Kennedy assassination and his initial nine months as president. This installment covers Johnson’s vice presidency under John F. The fourth volume of one of the most anticipated English-language biographies of the past 30 years.
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