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Acclaim for Master of the Senate

“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…. And 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…. Johnson made the impossible happen. Caro’s description of how he [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

“An epic tale of winning and wielding power. ”

—Dan DeLuca, The Philadelphia Inquirer

“Caro must be America’s greatest living Presidential biographer…. He entrances us with both his words and his research…. No other contemporary biographer offers such a complex picture of the forces driving an American politician, or populates his work with such vividly drawn secondary characters…. The author is at his best when relating the impact of congressional action on Americans’ lives. You can almost smell the musty offices in the Barbour County Courthouse in Eufaula, Ala. , as black citizens try in vain to register to vote…. Extraordinary. ”

—Richard S. Dunham, BusinessWeek

“Brilliant…. A riveting political drama. ”

—Douglas Brinkley, The Boston Globe

“The most complete portrait of the Senate ever drawn.

—Michael Wolff, New York

“In this fascinating book, Robert Caro does more than carry forward his epic life of Lyndon Johnson. With compelling narrative power and with remarkable subtlety and sensitivity, he illuminates the Senate of the United States and its byzantine power struggles. In this historical tour-de-force, Robert Caro shows himself the true ‘master of the Senate. ’”

—Arthur Schlesinger, Jr.

“A terrific study of power politics. ”

—Steve Neal, Chicago Sun-Times

“Master of the Senate and its two preceding volumes are the highest expression of biography as art. After The Path to Power and Means of Ascent, there shouldn’t be much debate about Caro’s grand achievement, but let’s be clear about this nonetheless: In terms of political biography, not only does it not get better than this, it can’t. ”

—Patrick Beach, Austin American-Statesman

“Many and varied are the delights of this book, and perhaps the best of them is the long, brilliant lead-in to the great set piece of the book: how Lyndon John son passed the Civil Rights Act of 1957…. This is how the story should be told—all of it…. These [legislative battles] are great stories, the stuff of the legends of democracy—rich in character, plot, suspense, nuttiness, human frailty, maddening stupidity. These should be the American sagas; these should be our epics. Bob Caro has given us a beauty, and I think we owe him great thanks. ”

—Molly Ivins, The New York Observer

“Indefatigably researched and brilliantly written…. Powerful…. One of Caro’s most valuable contributions is his excavation of the lost art of legislating…. Rich and rewarding. ”