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Robert Caro and Kurt Vonnegut interview each other (1999)

robertcaro.com

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Re: Robert Caro and Kurt Vonnegut interview each other (1999)

#41

Post by colin353 »

billfruit wrote: post #37
colin353 wrote: post #27

Reading Robert Caro was one of the great pleasures of my life, I can't recommend him highly enough. The only probem is that once you read him, you're spoiled. Nobody else really compares to his force of writing and depth of research.

Aren't there other great biographies and biographers as interesting as well including the following: -James Boswell's Life of Samuel Johnson -Carl Sandburgs 3 or 4 volume biography of Lincoln. - Isaac Deutscher's massive biography of Trotsky.(The Prophet). -Duff Cooper's Talleyrand. -Tom Cliffs 3 volume biography of Lenin. - William Taubman biographies of Khrushchev and Gorbachev. -William Manchester biography of Gen…

I'll have to check these out, thanks! Haven't read any of them

Re: Robert Caro and Kurt Vonnegut interview each other (1999)

#42

Post by laserson »

eslaught wrote: post #39
laserson wrote: post #26

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I used an X-Acto knife to slice it into 3 volumes and rebound them.

What do you do to rebind them? Are you using real rebinding tools or just using duct tape or something?

It wasn't too fancy. I bought self-adhesive laminating sheets and reinforced with "book tape".

https://photos.app.goo.gl/QRCgTCUas1uYnY6x5

It did feel a bit sacrilegious slicing through the binding, but overall it worked out great!

Re: Robert Caro and Kurt Vonnegut interview each other (1999)

#43

Post by ncphil »

hardwaregeek wrote: post #10

I'm a little less than halfway through The Power Broker. It's a riveting read, especially as a New Yorker (quite possibly living in housing built by him!). I suppose I haven't quite gotten to the part where Moses goes full corrupt. From what I've read so far, he seemed utterly vicious, sneaky and deceptive, but also ridiculously competent. Anybody who's had to sit in committees and meetings spinning their wheels, hea…

Oh. No. The bridge clearance on the LI parkways was _very definitely_ intentional, but really aimed at preventing them from being used by commercial truck traffic rather than busses. Local sources for it are legion and predate Caro's book by at least a decade. That's also the reason for the tight turns at exits. A car or minibus can usually negotiate those without difficulty (assuming the driver is paying attention), but they're impossible for tractor-trailers.

Re: Robert Caro and Kurt Vonnegut interview each other (1999)

#44

Post by daltonlp »

billfruit wrote: post #37
colin353 wrote: post #27

Reading Robert Caro was one of the great pleasures of my life, I can't recommend him highly enough. The only probem is that once you read him, you're spoiled. Nobody else really compares to his force of writing and depth of research.

Aren't there other great biographies and biographers as interesting as well including the following: -James Boswell's Life of Samuel Johnson -Carl Sandburgs 3 or 4 volume biography of Lincoln. - Isaac Deutscher's massive biography of Trotsky.(The Prophet). -Duff Cooper's Talleyrand. -Tom Cliffs 3 volume biography of Lenin. - William Taubman biographies of Khrushchev and Gorbachev. -William Manchester biography of Gen…

More props for William Manchester. The Glory and the Dream is an amazing book.

Re: Robert Caro and Kurt Vonnegut interview each other (1999)

#45

Post by giantDinosaur »

colin353 wrote: post #32
burnaway wrote: post #30

Earlier quoted context omitted.

...if so, which one would you start with?

I would recommend starting with Master of the Senate, since I think it's his best work. But I started with the first in the LBJ series and it's incredibly gripping as well. The Power Broker is also excellent and absolutely worth reading, but in my view not quite as good as the LBJ series.

The Power Broker has one great strength over the LBJ series: concision.

Re: Robert Caro and Kurt Vonnegut interview each other (1999)

#46

Post by engineer_22 »

klelatti wrote: post #6
jamcohen wrote: post #5

Earlier quoted context omitted.

A lot of Caro’s responses are included, almost verbatim, in his more recent book “On Power”: https://www.amazon.com/On-Power-Robert-A-Caro-audiobook/dp/B... Definitely recommend the audiobook if you haven’t heard it already. Caro’s got a thick Brooklyn accent and a manner of speaking that’s really compelling.

Agreed. There are also lots of good interviews with Caro on YouTube e.g. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EKuzFUCJAzo

Thanks both!

Re: Robert Caro and Kurt Vonnegut interview each other (1999)

#47

Post by ppipada »

Today is Sunday, and I am casually browsing through Hackernews and I find this article that seems to be talking about one of my favourite authors, Kurt.

It looks too long, the first question that comes to my mind on this sleepy day is whether this is worth it. A lot of these tend to be self wound articles, but I start reading and interest develops slowly but surely. Before you know it I am through reading and starting to wonder, how did I read this as a whole and how great this was. May be this was even small and some more of it wouldn't have hurt.

Thank you for posting this. This article gives great insight into the thought and the narrative behind these great authors. I would be looking forward to reading The Power Broker and the LBJ series. As always, reading about Kurt or his work is always fascinating.

Re: Robert Caro and Kurt Vonnegut interview each other (1999)

#48

Post by jimmyvalmer »

ppipada wrote: post #47

Today is Sunday, and I am casually browsing through Hackernews and I find this article that seems to be talking about one of my favourite authors, Kurt. It looks too long, the first question that comes to my mind on this sleepy day is whether this is worth it. A lot of these tend to be self wound articles, but I start reading and interest develops slowly but surely. Before you know it I am through reading and startin…

This article is currently popularity #364, on page 13 of news.ycombinator.com.

When you say you "casually browse through HN," may I ask how you're doing that and how a "back issue" post like this comes to your attention? Thanks.

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