Turn Every Page: Robert Caro and Gottlieb Documentary (Key Takeaways)

Ian Greer -

Key Takeaways

  • "There is one best word. It's my job to find that best word." — Robert Caro
  • "Writing is hard. Research is just fun." — Robert Caro
  • The prose and flow of a non-fiction book have to be as smooth as a novel. It's not about just getting the facts down.
  • An author must also be an interviewer. Caro did 522 interviews for The Power Broker.
  • "When I was young, poverty was so common that we didn't know it had a name. And education was something that you had to fight for. And water was really life itself." — Lyndon Baines Johnson
  • “The answers to most things can be found if you spend enough time trying to find them.” — Robert Caro

Notes

"I mean, the writing is very hard. There's no kidding around about it. Writing, for me anyway, is hard. Research is just great, I have to say." - Robert Caro

Sometimes when the author Robert Caro is looking for the right adjective to use, he'll make a whole list of possibilities. "There is one best word. It's my job to find that best word." - Caro. "He's a word painter, he paints with words." - Speaker from Robert Caro documentary

Robert Caro thinks through his book when he walks (he used to run but can't anymore).

The prose and flow of a non-fiction book have to be as smooth as a novel. It's not about just getting the facts down.

Caro believes that the semicolon is in between a period and a comma.

Caro did 522 interviews for The Power Broker.

"When I was young, poverty was so common that we didn't know it had a name. And education was something that you had to fight for. And water was really life itself." - LBJ

LBJ was 30k votes behind on election day. Somehow he won by 87 votes. Caro found out that Salas was still alive, he flew to Texas and found his trailer. Salas immediately gave him an essay on Ballot Box 13, where he explained everything that happened in the election. Johnson stole the election.

  • In Alice they discover signs of fraud: The last 202 names on the rolls in Box 13 were written in a different color ink; the new names were listed in alphabetical order; the handwriting was identical; some of the new voters claim they never voted.

Caro is very secretive about his work as he's making it. Only his editor gets to see the work.