Two Bob's Worth
from Life Sentences Podcast Hosted by Caroline Baum
To fully enjoy this episode, it is recommended that you watch the documentary Turn Every Page about the unique working relationship between biography giant Robert Caro and his editor of fifty years, Robert Gottlieb. Robert Caro is regarded by many as the greatest biographer of his generation, thanks to the ambition, scope and meticulous detail of his 1974 best selling biography The Power Broker, about Robert Moses, the unscrupulous developer who built the New York we know today. Now 88, he is currently at work on the eagerly awaited fifth volume of his biography of President Lyndon Johnson. Robert Gottlieb is a former editor of the New Yorker and has edited many of the greats of twentieth century American literature from Joseph Heller to Toni Morrison. His partnership with Robert Caro was a unique relationship between author and editor that never translated into a personal friendship outside of work. Lizzie Gottlieb, Robert Gottlieb’s daughter, was given unprecedented access to the very shy, modest and private Robert Caro. Her observational documentary tells the story of his research methods, of how he uncovered the racism inherent in Robert Moses’ approach to urban development and of the secrets and lies buried within the Johnson family that Caro’s unflagging patience and active listening uncovered in Texas.
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