The Years of Lyndon Johnson - Influence of The Series

Influence of The Series

Politicians in particular have responded most strongly to The Years of Lyndon Johnson:

• Former Senate Majority Leader Tom Daschle once told the Capitol newspaper Roll Call after reading Master of the Senate that "I think the thing you learn from reading that magnificent book is that every day, this body makes history."
• Former Vice President Walter Mondale described Master of the Senate as a "superb work of history."
• Former British Prime Minister Gordon Brown, said of the series: "It's a wonderfully written set of books. The stories are quite breathtaking... These books challenge the view of history that politics is just about individual maneuvering. It's about ideas and principled policy achievements. That's what makes it one of the great political biographies."
• Former UK Conservative Party leader William Hague nominated Means of Ascent as the book he would most like to have with him on a desert island, in the BBC Radio 4 program Desert Island Discs. He later wrote: "I explained that it was the best political biography of any kind, that I had ever read. I said it conveyed more brilliantly than any other publication what it really feels like to be a politician... When a fourth volume finally completes the set, this will be nothing short of a magnificent history of 20th century America." Michael Howard, another former Conservative Party leader, encountered the series after swapping houses with Robert Caro for a holiday. He said, "For Caro, writing a biography is writing a thriller—in Johnson's case, a Western. You can't stop turning the pages. He doesn't like Johnson, but the facts are there so you can make your own judgments. I can't recommend this book highly enough."