Hershman, D. Jablow, with a preface by Gerald Tolchin, Ph.D. Power Beyond Reason: The Mental Collapse of Lyndon Johnson. Fort Lee NJ: Barricade Books, 2002. 358 pages.

D. Jablow Hershman's first book examined the role of manic depression in the lives of geniuses, the second looked at the politics and case histories of Napoleon, Hitler and Stalin, and this one is based on her research from 86 books, which is almost everything written about Lyndon Johnson. Her point is that Johnson suffered from bipolar disorder throughout his life, and that this is the way to make sense out his policies and behavior. As Professor Gerald Tolchin writes in the preface: "A manic can act impulsively and precipitously with little regard for consequences."

Hershman's research makes a strong case. She extracts anecdotes, conversations, and examples from LBJ's recorded behavior, starting with childhood, and stitches it into an enlightening narrative. The result is a biography of a president unlike any other. It explains why LBJ waged war in Vietnam as soon as JFK, who planned to pull out, was assassinated. It's scary, because today George W. Bush, fortified by religious zeal, is going crazy in Iraq. But Bush clearly wants the oil that America needs to keep its SUVs running, which at least offers hope that Bush, unlike LBJ, may not be clinically unbalanced. Vietnam, by contrast, had nothing the U.S. or LBJ wanted -- it was mainly a matter of Lyndon Johnson's manic depression.
ISBN 1-56980-243-2

Extract the names from this source

Back to search page