The Passage of Power: The Years of Lyndon Johnson

Robert Caro. *Starred Review* Wedged between LBJ's triumphant Senate career and his presidency, this fourth volume in Caro's acclaimed Years of Lyndon Johnson series addresses the failed presidential campaign of 1960, the three frustrating years as vice president, and the transition between the Kennedy and Johnson administrations. Though seemingly focused on less compelling material than Master of the Senate (2002), the book is riveting reading from beginning to end, perhaps because Caro's real subject is political power, both its waxing and waning. Unquestionably, one of the truly big books of the year.--Booklist.

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The making of a patriot : Benjamin Franklin at the Cockpit

Sheila L. Skemp. The second in Oxford's new Critical Historical Encounters series, covering formative events in American History--this time with a focus on a Benjamin Franklin many readers may not have encountered before. A worthy addition to the literature on both Franklin and the Revolutionary War.--Kirkus.

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Shiloh, 1862

Winston Groom (Get a copy).

Groom presents Shiloh, fought on April 6-7 in western Tennessee, as a turning point in the war. After setting the stage, Groom takes the reader to Pittsburg Landing, the nearest town to the battle, a few days beforehand. Groom follows individual soldiers and small units as well as the larger shape of the battle. The emphasis on the human element gives the book a power that sets it apart from most military histories. Essential reading for Civil War buffs and a great overview of a key battle for neophytes.--Kirkus

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Blackhorse Riders: A Desperate Last Stand, an Extraordinary Rescue Mission, and the Vietnam Battle America Forgot

Philip Keith. A fine, precisely detailed record of an obscure but nasty battle in Vietnam in which heroism was forgotten even more quickly than the war itself. Keeping the traditional patriotic overlay to a minimum and with only a modest amount of invented dialogue, Keith provides engrossing, almost minute-by-minute account of the preliminaries and the battle itself. Military buffs will take it in stride, but Americans accustomed to 30 years of campaigns in which a single soldier's death is news and more than one makes the front page will squirm to read that in the typical war, men die en masse.--Kirkus (Check Catalog)