Flawed Giant

Flawed Giant--the monumental concluding volume to Robert Dallek's biography of Lyndon Baines Johnson--provides the most through, engrossing account ever published of Johnson's years in the national spotlight. Drawing on hours of newly released White House tapes and dozens of interviews with people close to the President, Dallek reveals LBJ as a visionary leader who worked his will on Congress like no chief executive before or since, and also displays the depth of his private anguish as he became increasingly ensnared in Vietnam. Writing in a clear, thoughtful, and evenhanded style, Dallek reveals both the greatness and the tangled complexities of one of the most extravagant characters ever to ascend to the White House.

The concluding volume to Dallek's monumental biography of Johnson provides the most thorough, engrossing look ever at LBJ's years in the national spotlight. 16-page photo insert.

To read Robert Dallek's new book on LBJ is to be transported back to the era that he helped make so angry and turbulent...Flawed Giant captures in unforgiving detail a president whose flaws were tragically larger than life.--Chicago Tribune

Dallek lets Johnson speak for himself, and no writer could create a more colorful, entertaining, inspiring, eccentric, or troubling character.--The Boston Sunday Globe

Avoiding the demonology that has marred other accounts of this fascinating man, Dallek shows not only his failures and his excesses but also his gargantuan accomplishments and subtle mind. Here is a Johnson without tears or cheers but in a clear, steady light.--Washington Post Book World

An historical biographical tour de force.--Richmond Times-Dispatch

Poised, scholarly, and readable.--The New Yorker