LBJ: Architect of American Ambition

Tall and powerfully built, Lyndon Baines Johnson was a man of conflicting insecurities and ambitions - a white Southerner who championed civil rights and a self-made rich man who declared 'unconditional war on poverty'. In this epic biography, historian Randall Woods draws on exclusive interviews and a treasure trove of White House tapes and declassified documents to fully explore, for the first time, Johnson's key influences, personal and political battles, and his extraordinary legacy. Woods depicts Johnson in all his complexity - at once cunning and naive, compassionate and cruel. Despite struggling with borderline bipolar depression and multiple chronic illnesses, Johnson single-handedly launched an ambitious reform movement that included education aid, health care, immigration reform and environmental protection. He collaborated with Martin Luther King, Jr. in the passage of the Civil Rights Act of 1964 and the Voting Rights Act of 1965 - the two most far-reaching pieces of civil rights legislation in twentieth century American history In this single volume study, Woods turns the popular perception of Johnson on its head and reveals instead a heroic reformer and a devoted public servant deserving a place in the pantheon of great but tragic figures.