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PaperclipPerfector  1yr ago (text post)   2748 thread views

Small-Scale Question Sunday for August 13, 2023

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I found Caro to be one of the greatest non fiction authors of all time, but I'm midway through The Years of Lyndon Johnson and the one thing that really frustrates me is his authorial Gell-Mann amnesia. In the middle of writing a 1600 page book on how Robert Moses/LBJ was a fraud and everything you heard about him was a lie forwarded intentionally to perpetuate a myth he'll pause to outline another character and give out some real whoppers. Al Smith working in fish markets, Sam Rayburn honest as sunshine, Coke Stevenson studying law by campfire. Watching Caro demolish LBJ one hears about Coke Stevenson accidentally getting into politics and one thinks "What a load of baloney, he made that up himself."

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