The highpoint in this superb book is the day of the assassination. Whilst I don't believe for one minute that Johnson had any involvement, I had never realised just how amazingly fortuitous was its timing for him, and how close he came to being ruined politically had it not occurred. The rapid editing between the motorcade in Dallas and the Senate investigation into Bobby Baker (and, by association, Johnson) in Washington, creates an entirely new and incredibly tense narrative of these events.

As for the rest of the book, whilst it is standard (excellent) Caro, for the first time in The Years of Lyndon Johnson I became aware of a formula emerging; Johnson down (either ill or depressed) followed by Johnson revved up and sweeping aside all opposition by the force of his energy, personality and political genius. This is not a major problem and would not put me off reading the next installment, however, it is an issue.