person1935–

Robert Caro

Disciplines:

Summary

American biographer — author of The Power Broker and the multi-volume The Years of Lyndon Johnson — two Pulitzer Prize winners — the greatest living American biographer — whose work examines how power is accumulated and used in American democracy.

Core Contribution

Creates the anatomy of power as biographical subject — Caro's work (The Power Broker on Robert Moses; The Years of Lyndon Johnson in 5 projected volumes) is the most systematic examination of how power is accumulated in American democracy; his method (moving to the Texas Hill Country to understand LBJ's context) established the gold standard for biographical immersion.

Key Spikes & Highlights

Spent 3 years living in the Texas Hill Country to understand LBJ's Hill Country constituents — Caro moved his family to rural Texas to experience the conditions that shaped Johnson's political ambitions; the immersive biography method he developed (moving to your subject's world to understand it) is the highest standard of biographical research and has produced the most authoritative account of any American president's origins
Has been working on the 5th and final LBJ volume for over 20 years — at 88, Caro is still working; the project has outlasted most of its early readers' expectations; his refusal to compromise depth for speed is either the supreme act of biographical integrity or the most elaborate form of procrastination in literary history; the question of whether volume 5 will be completed is the most discussed open question in American letters

Notable Works & Achievements

The Power Broker

The Path to Power

Means of Ascent

Master of the Senate

The Passage of Power

The Working

Historical Influences

Edmund Wilson Hiram Johnson

Intellectual Lineage

New York Princeton Newsday The Power Broker The Years of Lyndon Johnson The Working

Contemporaries & Peers

Taylor Branch Ron Chernow

Minds Influenced

American biography Political journalism

Intellectual Posterity

The Power Broker The Path to Power Master of the Senate The Passage of Power The Working Caro

Discussing

Robert Caro

Ask anything about Robert Caro — their ideas, influences, contradictions, legacy.

person1935–

Robert Caro

Disciplines:

power

biography

journalism

american history/america

Summary

Core Contribution

Key Spikes & Highlights

Spent 3 years living in the Texas Hill Country to understand LBJ's Hill Country constituents — Caro moved his family to rural Texas to experience the conditions that shaped Johnson's political ambitions; the immersive biography method he developed (moving to your subject's world to understand it) is the highest standard of biographical research and has produced the most authoritative account of any American president's origins
Has been working on the 5th and final LBJ volume for over 20 years — at 88, Caro is still working; the project has outlasted most of its early readers' expectations; his refusal to compromise depth for speed is either the supreme act of biographical integrity or the most elaborate form of procrastination in literary history; the question of whether volume 5 will be completed is the most discussed open question in American letters