Flawed Giant: Lyndon Johnson and His Times, 1961-1973

I bought this as a gift for my husband and he loves it! We are both history enthusiasts so intend to read it when he is done. I also paid for 2 day shipping and got it the next day so I am 110% satisfied with this purchase.

This book is a very good account of LBJ's formidable years, from his ascendancy to the vice presidency in 1960 (a position which he hated) to his swearing in aboard Air Force One hours after JFK's assassination through the end of his administration and subsequent death in 1973. However, it would have been nice to have more on LBJ's years as vice president in this book, particularly because LBJ hated being second fiddle so much. However, Dallek, a superb historian, doesn't disappoint in "Flawed Giant," where he offers up plenty of details about Johnson's personal torture that was Vietnam, and also LBJ's personal passions - civil rights and his beloved Great Society. Dallek does a good job of describing what could aptly be termed the 2 LBJs - the indecisive one whose foreign policy decisions were often disastrous, including the Dominican Republic, Vietnam and North Korea; and the truly compassionate one who cared about people of color and those less fortunate with his Great Society and civil rights legislative successes. I have to confess to not reading "Lone Star Rising," Dallek's part one on LBJ's life. I wanted to skip to LBJ's presidential years, but based on Dallek's reputation and another work of his which I have read "The Unfinished Presidency, John F. Kennedy," Dallek's fantastic book on JFK, I would recommend "Lone Star Rising" in a second. It's important to note that Dallek isn't an LBJ cheerleader - he writes equal parts good and bad about a man not easily understood or described. Until Robert Caro finishes his fourth installment on LBJ (part 4 is on LBJ's presidency), "Flawed Giant" is probably one of the best accounts on the Johnson presidency. Also worth a look: Dallek's one-volume account on LBJ's life from start to finish, "Lyndon B. Johnson: Portrait of a President." However, one-volume accounts of a president tend to skim too much and offer too little detail, such as Ambrose's "Eisenhower: Soldier and President."

Robert Dallek's concluding volume on Lyndon Johnson completes what is to date the definitive biographical account of Johnson's life. Flawed Giant primarily deals with Johnson's Presidential years and is a bit more sober in tone than the lyrical Lone Stare Rising. But Dallek provides a fresh look at the difficult decisions facing a conflicted man with absorbing detail. This is no small feat, as the events of Johnson's life from 1961 to 1973 have been picked apart by biographers, historians and journalist again and again. It is unfortunate that the middlebrow, popular accounts of Johnson's life by Robert Caro have received so much attention. The result has been that serious biography on this subject has not been given it's day in the sun. I should note that Robert Dallek's comments about Mr. Caro have been much kinder to the popular writer than mine. Flawed Giant is a must read for those interested in American history and politics.

Unlike some other reviewers, I was not disappointed by this sequel to Lone Star Rising. LBJ was so complex, and so was his Presidency. I've read many books on him and often get the impression given by the parable of the elephant and the three blind men: each writer gives a part of the description of the 'elephant' that was Johnson, but no real complete picture. Mr. Dallek comes closer, in my opinion, to representing the complete picture of Johnson and his Presidency, than others. I've always viewed Johnson in the same mold as FDR, in terms of scope of personality and ability to place a personal stamp on his Presidency. Both mean had such great assets and achievements, and both had great shortcomings. The difference that comes to mind immediately is Johnson's lack of confidence in many judgments and life-long lack of self-confidence; this is well-illustrated in this book. Unlike Roosevelt, Johnson lacked the ability to disguise his motives and emotions in an ongoing manner. Like other reviewers, I only wish there had been greater coverage of Johnson's Vice-Presidential years. I've never read any detailed history of this period in Johnson's life, other than the feuding with the Kennedy clan. There's probably a book here for someone willing to spend the time and effort. Dallek's writing is much more balanced than the books by Caro, and I think history will prove them of greater value.

This work, the final volume of Dallek's splendid Johnson biography, takes advantage of hundreds of newly-released White House tapes to illuminate the rise and fall of one of the most complex men ever to occupy the Presidency, the larger-than-life LBJ, with all his majestic intentions and all-too-human failings. Combining judicious choice of materials with mature interpretation in a wonderfully readable narrative, Dallek's work is particularly compelling in tracing the American involvement in Vietnam, which LBJ rightly feared but, tragically, could not escape, given the assumptions and world view of his generation, and his determination: "...not...to be the first American President to lose a war". (p.460). (The "score" rating is an ineradicable feature of the page. This reviewer does not "score" books.)