MASTER OF THE SENATE The Years of Lyndon Johnson

In 1957 the Senate was moribund, caught in a deadly three-way stalemate between Republicans, Southern Democrats, and liberal Northern Democrats. In 1949, however, Lyndon Johnson was elected from Texas, and, like God Almighty, bent down, molded it in his image, and breathed new life into it. In this third volume, Caro follows Johnson's career from that election to his masterstroke of political engineering as the Senate's young majority leader--the Civil Rights Act of 1957. The abridgment has a completeness and an artistic integrity all its own. Stephen Lang's narration, too, is an artistic achievement. Miraculously without caricature, Lang creates credible voices for the towering hill-country Texan; Kennedy of Massachusetts; the fast-talking senator from Minnesota, Hubert Humphrey; and many others. Lang switches effortlessly and accurately between Johnson snarling at Senate clerks and Caro's brilliant narrative. This is history at its best, and in manageable doses. P.E.F. Winner of AudioFile Earphones Award (c) AudioFile 2002, Portland, Maine [Published: AUG/SEP 02]