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LBJ biographer readies 4th book
AP National Writer
NEW YORK
Robert A. Caro’s quest to narrate the life of Lyndon Johnson, and document how Johnson handled and created political power, has lasted longer than LBJ’s time in government.
The Pulitzer Prize winning historian and former Newsday investigative reporter has spent some 35 years researching and writing about Johnson, from the Texan’s debut in Congress during the New Deal era to his rise to the White House under the most traumatic conditions, the assassination of President John F. Kennedy. The more Caro learned, the more he needed to tell. A planned three-volume history grew to four, then five. Caro was barely 40 when he started the project and likely will be pushing 80 when he’s done.
Book four, “The Passage of Power,” comes out in May, publisher Alfred A. Knopf announced Tuesday.
“Passage of Power” will focus on the years 1958-64, from the time he began seeking the presidency, through his years as vice president under Kennedy, and to Johnson’s becoming president and his astonishing early run of legislative victories. Caro expects the book to run about 700 pages, modest by his standards. His previous book, “Master of the Senate,” topped 1,100 pages.
Caro said he has already done an outline and most of the research for the presumed final volume, which would cover the rest of Johnson’s presidency and how the Vietnam War overshadowed his domestic triumphs and drove him to give up on seeking a second full term. Caro expects the fifth book to take two to three years and adds that he even knows the final sentence.
“I’m ready to start writing it now,” says Caro, all of whose Johnson books have been edited by Robert Gottlieb.
Over the past three decades, Caro’s Johnson books have been among the most celebrated and debated historical works in memory. Caro has received two National Book Critics Circle awards, a National Book Award and a Pulitzer Prize, for “Master of the Senate.” The three books have sold 1.5 million copies combined and Knopf receives hundreds of emails each month asking about the next volume.
Knopf plans a first printing of 300,000 copies and Bogaards said Caro will tour to promote the new book, giving fans a long-awaited chance to see him.