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Master of the Senate
- The Years of Lyndon Johnson III
- Narrated by: Stephen Lang
- Length: 8 hrs and 33 mins
- Abridged Audiobook
- Categories: Biographies & Memoirs, Historical
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Editor reviews
Summary
Caro demonstrates how Johnson's political genius enabled him to reconcile the unreconcilable: to retain the support of the southerners who controlled the Senate while earning the trust - or at least the cooperation - of the liberals, led by Paul Douglas and Hubert Humphrey, without whom he could not achieve his goal of winning the presidency. And we hear him achieve the impossible: convincing southerners that although he was firmly in their camp as the anointed successor to their leader, Richard Russell, it was essential that they allow him to make some progress toward civil rights.
Robert A. Caro has won the Pulitzer Prize for Biography, as well as two National Book Critics Circle Awards and other honors. Master of the Senate is told with an abundance of rich detail that could only have come from Caro's peerless research.
Critic reviews
“A wonderful, a glorious tale.... It will be hard to equal this amazing book. It reads like a Trollope novel, but not even Trollope explored the ambitions and the gullibilities of men as deliciously as Robert Caro does. Even though I knew what the outcome of a particular episode would be, I followed Caro’s account of it with excitement. I went back over chapters to make sure I had not missed a word.... Caro’s description of how [Johnson passed the civil rights legislation] is masterly; I was there and followed the course of the legislation closely, but I did not know the half of it.” (Anthony Lewis, The New York Times Book Review)
“A masterpiece.... Robert Caro has written one of the truly great political biographies of the modern age.” (Daniel Finkelstein, The Times, London)
“Mesmerizing.... [It] brings LBJ blazing into the Senate.... A tale rife with drama and hypnotic in the telling. The historian’s equivalent of a Mahler symphony.” (Malcolm Jones, Newsweek)
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What listeners say about Master of the Senate
Average customer ratingsReviews - Please select the tabs below to change the source of reviews.
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Overall1 out of 5 stars
- Shelly Brisbin
- 05-09-04
Abridgement bad
Robert Caro's Master of the Senate is a strikingly detailed look at the most pivotal years of Lyndon Johnson's pre-presidential career. I knew that much would be missing from this abridged recording, but I was shocked to find that entire chapters, as well as crucial incidents in LBJ's life, such as his heart attack, the presidential election of 1956 and many others, were ommitted. After all, it was from Caro, in one of his earlier LBJ volumes, that I learned how fearful LBJ was of a heart attack that would kill him at an early age. And after reading in such great detail about the hard-fought and crookedly won election of 1948, I was stunned to find no mention of LBJ's 1954 re-election campaign, or even the smallest discussion of Texas politics in the 50s, and how LBJ was affected by it. In short, this is the most unfortunate and poorest abridgement of a book I've ever read.
34 people found this helpful
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Overall3 out of 5 stars
- James
- 17-07-03
Good, but abridged version off
I first read two long excerpts from this book in the New Yorker that captured the essence of LBJ, and in particular, the way he played Humbert Humphrey to serve his ends. This was missing in the audio version. Also, most critical, was the passage where LBJ, who arguably did more to advance civil rights than anyone else including Martin Luther King, asks his long-time black chauffeur if he minds being called by a nickname instead of his real name. When the chauffeur answers "yes" LBJ unleashes a stinging racist tirade on the man. That one scene captured the contradiction that was LBJ, yet is omitted from the audio book. But there were passages included that were mostly nits about vote counts etc. So an A for the book, a C for the abridged version.
16 people found this helpful
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Overall5 out of 5 stars
- William
- 09-12-03
A truly great book...too bad its abridged
The three books which constitute this history of Johnson are truly outstanding. Caro has an unmatched ability to vividly capture his subject's character and portray the world in which they operate -- without pulling any punches. Best of all, by the time Caro is done, you understand not just how Johnson successfully climbed to the leadership of the Senate, but why. The series is not just great biography, but a highly entertaining look at the American political system. Unfortunately, Audible offers only an abridged version.
5 people found this helpful
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Overall5 out of 5 stars
- Cal
- 28-03-04
Master of the Senate
I started this book thinking it might be moderately interesting. As I had read Caro's book on Robert Moses, I was expecting a well written book on a fairly dull topic. To my great surprise, the book was both extremely well written and as far from dull as any book could be. This book unquestionably deserves the highest possible rating. What a shame that Caro's follow up book on Johnson's years as president has not yet been published. I would also love to see the two earlier volumes converted to audio format as well.
4 people found this helpful
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Overall4 out of 5 stars
- Shannon Gaw
- 10-08-03
Excellent, but can't Audible offer the unabridged?
I thoroughly enjoyed this, but, having read other LBJ bio's, I felt cheated that there was more there that didn't make this abridged version. Caro appears to be an excellent biographer and his passion is evident. Stephen Lang did an excellent job capturing that passion, as well as LBJ's, Dick Russell's, and Hubert Humphrey's accent and vocal mannerisms.
4 people found this helpful
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Overall1 out of 5 stars
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Performance1 out of 5 stars
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Story1 out of 5 stars
- Xehelios
- 05-10-20
Abridged!
I felt betrayed to learn this was just an abridged version. Waste of time and money!
2 people found this helpful
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Overall5 out of 5 stars
- Andy
- 09-07-03
exciting, for a political book
Caro really brings Lyndon Johnson to life, and the narrator could easily be mistaken for Mike Wallace of 60 MINUTES. Understanding how Johnson climbed the ladder, it is hard to believe that he actually made it to President of the United States. A fast moving story, with just about everything included but drugs.
2 people found this helpful
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Overall1 out of 5 stars
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Performance1 out of 5 stars
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Story5 out of 5 stars
- Joshua A Bleecher Snyder
- 30-08-21
Warning: Abridged!
Literally at the final second of the audio book they mention that it was abridged.
The audio quality was variable.
Instead of just reading the text, the narrator adopted voices for the characters, which was distracting and annoying.
Caro’s work was as always amazing. Too bad it was abridged and read in a mediocre and inconsistent fashion.
1 person found this helpful
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Overall4 out of 5 stars
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Performance5 out of 5 stars
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Story3 out of 5 stars
- Conor McGarrity
- 05-02-21
Good Book, could be a better abridging
I enjoy the abridged version of this book but I do feel that the version is markedly inferior to the full length version, focusing massively on the first part of that book and seemingly rushing through the second half. The Civil Rights act of 1957 seems more like a blip than a legislative master stroke.
1 person found this helpful
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Overall1 out of 5 stars
- Amazon Customer
- 16-12-20
heading
this audiobook only includes the first 12 chapters, not the entire book. please be beware.
1 person found this helpful