Flawed Giant
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Review
"To read Robert Dallek's new book on LBJ is to be transported back to the era that he helped make so angry and turbulent....Flawed Giant captures in unforgiving detail a president whose flaws were tragically larger than life."--Chicago Tribune
"Dallek lets Johnson speak for himself, and no writer could create a more colorful, entertaining, inspiring, eccentric, or troubling character."--The Boston Sunday Globe
"Avoiding the demonology that has marred other accounts of this fascinating man, Dallek shows not only his failures and his excesses but also his gargantuan accomplishments and subtle mind. Here is a Johnson without tears or cheers but in a clear, steady light."--Washington Post Book World
"An historical biographical tour de force."--Richmond Times-Dispatch
"Poised, scholarly, and readable."--The New Yorker
"Dallek lets Johnson speak for himself, and no writer could create a more colorful, entertaining, inspiring, eccentric, or troubling character."--The Boston Sunday Globe
"Avoiding the demonology that has marred other accounts of this fascinating man, Dallek shows not only his failures and his excesses but also his gargantuan accomplishments and subtle mind. Here is a Johnson without tears or cheers but in a clear, steady light."--Washington Post Book World
"An historical biographical tour de force."--Richmond Times-Dispatch
"Poised, scholarly, and readable."--The New Yorker
Product Description
Lone Star Rising, the first volume in Robert Dallek's biography of LBJ, was hailed as "a triumphant portrait of Lyndon Johnson as rich and oversized and complex as the nation that shaped him." Now, in the final volume, Dallek takes us through Johnson's tumultuous years in the White House, his unprecedented accomplishments there, and the tragic war that would be his downfall. In these pages Johnson emerges as a character of almost Shakespearean dimensions, a man riddled with contradictions, a man of towering intensity and anguished insecurity, of grandiose ambition and grave self-doubt, a man who was brilliant, crude, intimidating, compassionate, overbearing, driven: "A tornado in pants." Drawing on hundreds of newly released tapes and extensive interviews with those closest to LBJ--including fresh insights from Ladybird and his press secretary Bill Moyers--Dallek takes us behind the scenes to give us a portrait of Johnson that is at once even-handed and completely engrossing. We see Johnson as the visionary leader who worked his will on Congress like no president before or since, enacting a range of crucial legislation, from Medicare, environmental protection, and the establishment of the National Endowment of the Arts and Humanities to the most significant advances in civil rights for black Americans ever achieved. And we see for the first time the depth of Johnson's private anguish as he became increasingly ensnared in Vietnam, a war he did not want to expand and which destroyed his hopes for The Great Society and a second term. Exhaustively researched and gracefully written, Flawed Giant reveals both the greatness and the tangled complexities of one of the most extravagant characters ever to step onto the presidential stage.
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Most Helpful Customer Reviews
7 of 7 people found the following review helpful
Format:Hardcover
I strongly preferred Dallek's first volume, Lone Star Rising, over the two Caro books that cover most of the same period, because Dallek presented a detailed and human portrait, while Caro seemed to have so completely turned against his subject he couldn't see anything good about him. So I looked forward to Dallek's treatment of his Vice Presidency and Presidency with as much anticipation as I can recall.
I was frankly disappointed in this volume. The entire Vice Presidency is handled in a single chapter and contains no insight greater than that LBJ was frustrated in the job, hardly a revelation. And the treatment of the Presidency, while providing a good general treatment, gives far less insight into his thinking and the way he made decisions, than the first volume. One can get far more insight from reading Michael Beschloss's edited transcripts in "Taking Charge".
One cogent example: in discussing the reaction to the 1967 Detroit riots, he quotes LBJ reacting to criticism by saying his statement was drafted by the best constitutional lawyer in the U.S. Yet one has to look at the footnotes to discover that this "lawyer" is Abe Fortas, who was then on the Supreme Court. That the president was consulting a justice about a domestic policy statement is an important issue, but one Dallek doesn't bother to tell us about. Yet it is that kind of insight that one looked forward to seeing in this volume. It's a shame it's not there.
5 of 5 people found the following review helpful
Format:Hardcover
I found this very easy to read. It provides a good history of the Johnson administration and covers a good deal more than policy making on Vietnam - the reason why I was initially interested. Details about the space programme, civil rights legislation and LBJ's relationship with his peers (particularly RFK) are some of the other areas that I enjoyed.
It is said that biographies often have the tendency to either canonise or vilify the subject, but this does neither and appears to be largely objective. It is essentially a political history of the administration with LBJ as the focus.
Read if you seek a better understanding of this fascinating period in US history or the decision making process during the early part of the Vietnam war.
It is said that biographies often have the tendency to either canonise or vilify the subject, but this does neither and appears to be largely objective. It is essentially a political history of the administration with LBJ as the focus.
Read if you seek a better understanding of this fascinating period in US history or the decision making process during the early part of the Vietnam war.
4 of 5 people found the following review helpful
Format:Paperback
With the flood of recent material that has become available with the release of the LBJ White House tapes, this is the ideal time to try and re-establsh Johnson's reputation. This book is by no means a whitewash, its handling of Vietnam is rightly critical, but it does seek to provide some balance against many of the accusations that are frequently levelled against Johnson, by the likes of Robert Caro. Some of the lesser, yet significant, Great Society programmes, such as consumer protection legislation and environmental laws, are brought to awareness and the beneficial impact of much of the Great Society legislation and Civil Rights reforms are rightly re-emphasised. The one frustrating fact about this book, is that Robert Dallek leaves an unsatisfactory non-committal conclusion on his view of LBJ. Maybe, for the time being, this is the best option available, but hopefully a more decisive assessment will be possible.
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Most Recent Customer Reviews
An apt title, a wonderful read.
I like this book so much I have bought four copies of it as presents for friends and relatives. All recipients have enjoyed reading it, have thanked me for it, and perhaps most... Read more
Published 19 months ago by Michael Tully
Exemplary history writing.
This work, the final volume of Dallek's splendid Johnson biography, takes advantage of hundreds of newly-released White House tapes to illuminate the rise and fall of one of the... Read more
Published on 26 April 1998
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