Robert Caro facts for kids
Quick facts for kids
Robert Caro
|
|
|---|---|
Caro at the 2012 Texas Book Festival
|
|
| Born | Robert Allan Caro October 30, 1935 New York City, U.S. |
| Occupation | Biographer |
| Education | Princeton University (BA) |
| Notable works | The Power Broker The Years of Lyndon Johnson |
| Spouse |
Ina Sloshberg
(m. 1957) |
| Children | 1 |
Robert Allan Caro (born October 30, 1935) is a famous American writer and journalist. He is best known for writing long, detailed books about important political figures in the United States. His most famous books are about Robert Moses, a powerful city planner, and Lyndon Johnson, a former U.S. President.
After working as a reporter for many years, Caro wrote The Power Broker in 1974. This book tells the story of Robert Moses, who shaped much of New York City. The book was so good that it was named one of the top 100 nonfiction books of the 20th century. Later, Caro started writing a series of books called The Years of Lyndon Johnson. He has published four out of five planned books in this series. Many people call Caro "the most important biographer of the last century."
Robert Caro has won many awards for his books. These include two Pulitzer Prizes, two National Book Awards, and several other major writing honors. In 2010, President Barack Obama gave him the National Humanities Medal. Caro is known for his amazing research. Other writers who do very deep research are sometimes called "Caro-esque."
Contents
Robert Caro's Early Life and Career
Robert Caro was born in New York City in 1935. His parents were Jewish. His mother was born in New York, and his father was from Warsaw, Poland. Robert grew up in a part of New York City called Central Park West. His father was a quiet businessman. When Robert was 12, his mother passed away after a long illness. She wanted him to go to the Horace Mann School, a private school in The Bronx.
School Days and College Life
At Horace Mann, Caro translated his school newspaper into Russian. He sent 10,000 copies to students in the Soviet Union. He finished school in 1953 and then went to Princeton University. There, he studied English and became the managing editor of the school newspaper, The Daily Princetonian.
Even in school, Caro's writing was very long and detailed. A short story he wrote for the humor magazine The Princeton Tiger filled almost a whole issue. His final paper for college, about writer Ernest Hemingway, was 235 pages long. Caro says it was so long that the university then set a maximum length for future student papers. He graduated with honors in 1957.
Caro later felt that Princeton might have been the wrong choice for him. He thought he should have gone to Harvard University. He said that Princeton in the 1950s was not always welcoming to Jewish students. Even though he did not face problems himself, he saw other students who did.
Starting as a Reporter
Caro began his career as a reporter for a newspaper in New Jersey. He later worked for six years as an investigative reporter at Newsday, a newspaper on Long Island. He wrote a story called "Anatomy of a $9 Burglary." This article looked deeply into the lives of people affected by a small theft. The New York Times praised it as an example of Caro's thorough research.
One of his important articles was about a plan to build a bridge across Long Island Sound. This bridge was supported by Robert Moses, a very powerful man. Caro's articles showed why the bridge would be a bad idea. He thought his work had convinced even the state governor to rethink the plan. But then, the state government voted to move forward with the bridge.
This moment changed Caro's life. He realized that power in a democracy doesn't always come from voting. He saw that Robert Moses, who was never elected, had huge power. Caro decided he needed to understand how Moses got and used this power. This led him to write his first major biography.
Robert Caro's Major Books
The Power Broker
In 1965, Caro was studying at Harvard University. During a class about city planning, he remembered his experience with Robert Moses. He realized that highways were built not just because of traffic needs, but because Moses wanted them built. Caro felt he had to explain where Moses got his power.
So, Caro started writing a book about Robert Moses. He thought it would take nine months, but it took him until 1974 to finish. The book was called The Power Broker: Robert Moses and the Fall of New York. It was a deep study of how power is gained and used. Caro did a huge amount of research, including 522 interviews. He even interviewed Moses himself seven times.
His wife, Ina, helped him a lot with the research. At one point, she sold their family home and took a teaching job. This helped Robert have enough money to finish the book.
The Power Broker is famous for its careful historical research and its engaging writing style. It tells the story from many different viewpoints. When the book came out, Robert Moses wrote a 23-page statement disagreeing with it.
The Years of Lyndon Johnson
After The Power Broker, Caro decided to write about President Lyndon B. Johnson. Caro's editor suggested the idea, and Caro agreed because he wanted to keep writing about power.
To understand Johnson's life, Caro moved to rural Texas and Washington, D.C. He interviewed many people who had known Johnson. The book series is called The Years of Lyndon Johnson. It was first planned as three books, but it will now be five volumes:
- The Path to Power (1982) covers Johnson's life until 1941.
- Means of Ascent (1990) tells about his life until he was elected to the Senate in 1948.
- Master of the Senate (2002) describes Johnson's time as the powerful Senate Majority Leader.
- The Passage of Power (2012) covers the 1960 election, Johnson's time as Vice President, and his first days as President after the JFK assassination.
- The fifth and final book is still being written. It will cover Johnson's time as president, including the Vietnam War, the Great Society programs, and civil rights.
Caro's books show Johnson as a complex person. He was sometimes tricky but also worked for good causes. For example, Caro wrote that Johnson's 1948 election to the Senate involved a lot of cheating. However, Johnson himself had been cheated in an earlier election. Caro also wrote about Johnson's efforts to pass important laws like the Voting Rights Act.
Caro has said that he reads books by the novelist Leo Tolstoy and the historian Edward Gibbon while he writes. He believes that history must be well-written to be good history. He says, "History is a narrative. History is a story."
How Robert Caro Writes His Books
Robert Caro spends many years researching each book. Before he starts writing, he creates a huge outline on a 22-foot corkboard. This helps him see the whole book from beginning to end. He writes many drafts by hand on special "legal pads."
Then, Caro types his books on old Smith Corona Electra 210 typewriters. He owns several of these typewriters because they are no longer made. He uses parts from his extra typewriters to fix the ones he uses. One of his typewriters is even on display at the New-York Historical Society.
Caro likes a bold text, so he uses a special type of ribbon for his typewriters. He edits his work with red pencils. He also keeps track of how many words he writes each day, aiming for 1,000 words.
Awards and Honors for Robert Caro
Robert Caro has won many important awards for his biographies. He has won the Pulitzer Prize for Biography twice. He has also won the National Book Critics Circle Award three times and two National Book Awards.
In 2010, President Obama gave Caro the National Humanities Medal. President Obama said that reading The Power Broker when he was 22 years old helped him think about politics. In 2011, Caro received the BIO Award for helping to improve the art of writing biographies.
Here are some of his awards:
- 1975 – The Francis Parkman Prize (for The Power Broker)
- 1975 – The Pulitzer Prize for Biography (for The Power Broker)
- 1982 – The National Book Critics Circle Award (for The Path to Power)
- 1983 – The Carr P. Collins Award (for The Path to Power)
- 1986 – The Gold Medal in Biography
- 1990 – The National Book Critics Circle Award (for Means of Ascent)
- 2002 – The Power Broker was named one of the 100 greatest non-fiction books of the 20th century by the Modern Library.
- 2002 – The National Book Award (for Master of the Senate)
- 2003 – The Pulitzer Prize for Biography (for Master of the Senate)
- 2010 – The National Humanities Medal
- 2011 – The BIO Award from Biographers International Organization
- 2012 – The New York Historical Society American History Book Prize (for The Passage of Power)
- 2016 – The National Book Award (Lifetime Achievement)
Robert Caro's Family Life
After college, Robert Caro married Ina Joan Sloshberg in 1957. They have one son, Chase Arthur, and three grandchildren.
Caro often says that his wife, Ina, is "the whole team" for all his books. She is the only other person who has done research for his books. She even sold their house and took a teaching job to help him finish The Power Broker.
Ina Caro is also a writer. She wrote The Road from the Past: Traveling Through History in France (1996). This book helps people learn about French history while traveling. She also writes about her travels in France on her blog.
Robert Caro's Legacy
Because of Robert Caro's hard work and detailed books, many other authors are compared to him. Their work is sometimes called "Caro-esque" or "Caro-like" when they do very extensive research.
In 2011, his old school, Horace Mann School, started giving out the Robert Caro '53 Prize for Literary Excellence in the Writing of History. In 2017, the school named a classroom after him. Caro said he was "just plain delighted" by this honor.
In 2020, the New-York Historical Society received all of Caro's old papers and research materials. They plan to make some of it available to researchers. They also have a permanent exhibit called Robert Caro Working. The title comes from advice Caro got as a young reporter: "Turn every page. Never assume anything. Turn every ... page." This advice is also the title of a 2022 movie about Caro and his editor, Robert Gottlieb.
Selected Works by Robert Caro
Books
- Caro, Robert A., The Years of Lyndon Johnson: The Path to Power. 1982.
- Caro, Robert A., The Years of Lyndon Johnson: Means of Ascent. 1990.
- Caro, Robert A., The Years of Lyndon Johnson: Master of the Senate. 2002.
- Caro, Robert A., The Years of Lyndon Johnson: The Passage of Power. 2012.
- Caro, Robert A., Working. April 2019.
Audiobooks
- Caro, Robert A., On Power, 2017.
Articles
- Caro, Robert A. (February 3, 1991). "My Search for Coke Stevenson". The New York Times.
- Caro, Robert A. (August 27, 2008). "Opinion | Johnson's Dream, Obama's Speech". The New York Times.
Images for kids
-
Robert Caro at the 2012 Texas Book Festival
-
Caro in 1982
-
Cover of The Power Broker
-
Caro at the LBJ Presidential Library, 2019
-
Caro's Smith Corona at the New-York Historical Society
-
Caro's Francis Parkman Prize
See also
In Spanish: Robert Caro para niños
