It's incredible how good those books are, and I genuinely feel sorry for anyone who hasn't experienced them. I read them over two years ago and still remember many details as if I read them yesterday. This is quite rare for me, given how much I read. Strangely, I didn’t have the same experience with "The Power Broker."
Ever since finishing them, I have been on the hunt for historical biographies of similar quality. While I haven't found any that match up completely, here are a few that come close in my opinion:
* Truman by David McCullough
* Grant by Ron Chernow
* American Caesar by William Manchester
I've also read the three-part Churchill series by Manchester, but it didn’t quite measure up to the LBJ series for me.
If you have any other suggestions, please share them!
My brother in law loves Vonnegut, I read all of his books also. Personally, I don't understand the appeal
I loved the Manchester series on Churchill. The others you mention are all on the 'to read' list for me already.
My favorite recent biography was on both JCR Licklider and the world he helped create; 'The Dream Machine', Waldrop.
Even more abstract, 'The Prize', Yergin, might be called a biography of the oil industry and 'The Making of the Atomic Bomb' is a biograpy of that dread beast. Those were my favorite books before starting Caro.
If you like history, have you read "From the Founding of the City"?
It's slow to start as the Romans fight the same Veientes a hundred times over, but when it's good, it's really good.
The stories are historic so there are realistic lessons in them. It's interesting as a working class person to read how the plebs were able to take some power from the owning class, for example.
The battles are tactical. The heroes are epic. The highs are very high and the lows very low.
Anyways it was preserved on paper 2000 years for a reason. It's unbelievably good.
Ever since finishing them, I have been on the hunt for historical biographies of similar quality. While I haven't found any that match up completely, here are a few that come close in my opinion:
* Truman by David McCullough
* Grant by Ron Chernow
* American Caesar by William Manchester
I've also read the three-part Churchill series by Manchester, but it didn’t quite measure up to the LBJ series for me.
If you have any other suggestions, please share them!
My brother in law loves Vonnegut, I read all of his books also. Personally, I don't understand the appeal