The Passage of Power

A New York Times Top Ten Book of 2012Best Biography of 2012, National Book Critics CircleA Washington Post Notable Work of NonfictionA Best Book of the Year: The Boston Globe, Entertainment Weekly, St. Louis Dispatch The Passage of Power follows Lyndon Johnson through both the most frustrating and most triumphant periods of his career—1958 to 1964. It is an unparalleled account of the machinations behind both John Kennedy’s 1960 presidential nomination and his decision to offer Johnson the vice presidency, and of Johnson’s humiliation and powerlessness in that role.

With the consummate skill of a master storyteller, Caro exposes the savage animosity between Johnson and Robert Kennedy, portraying one of America’s great political feuds. And for the first time, in Caro’s breathtakingly vivid narrative, we see the Kennedy assassination through Lyndon Johnson’s eyes, and watch as the political genius with which Johnson had ruled the Senate now enables him to grasp the reins of the presidency with supreme mastery, and, within weeks, make it wholly his own, surmounting unprecedented obstacles in order to fulfill the highest purpose of the presidency. It is an epic story, displaying all the narrative energy and illuminating insight that led the Times of London to acclaim The Years of Lyndon Johnson as “one of the truly great political biographies of the modern age.”