#richard mann

@agoodpairofsocks 's characters Richard and Solomon

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Oh man, there are so many great ones that it's impossible for me to narrow it down to one. Whenever Robert Caro publishes his fifth and final volume of The Years of Lyndon Johnson (BOOK SET | KINDLE), that will likely take the title, but for now I'll list a few of my recommendations:

•Building the Great Society: Inside Lyndon Johnson's White House by Joshua Zeitz (BOOK | KINDLE) -- This is more of a broad overview of LBJ's entire progressive legislative agenda, but it's a good place to start if you want to understand exactly what was accomplished and where the Great Society fell short.

•The Fierce Urgency of Now: Lyndon Johnson, Congress, and the Battle for the Great Society by Julian E. Zelizer (BOOK | KINDLE) -- Like the first book on the list, this is a wider history of all of the Great Society programs and how LBJ used his legislative mastery and the national mood following JFK's assassination to get so much done in such a short time. Another book that is a good foundation for what exactly was accomplished.

The rest of the books on the list have a sharper focus on the passage of the Voting Rights Act of 1965 (and the Civil Rights Act of 1964):

•The Walls of Jericho: Lyndon Johnson, Hubert Humphrey, Richard Russell, and the Struggle for Civil Rights by Richard Mann

•Judgment Days: Lyndon Baines Johnson, Martin Luther King Jr., and the Laws That Changed America by Nick Kotz (BOOK | KINDLE) -- I especially appreciate the research that Nick Kotz did for this book. The power of the partnership between LBJ and MLK as they worked to pass Civil Rights in '64 and particularly Voting Rights in '65 is remarkable.

•An Idea Whose Time Has Come: Two Presidents, Two Parties, and the Battle for the Civil Rights Act of 1964 by Todd S. Purdum (BOOK | KINDLE) -- Obviously, this book is about the Civil Rights Act, not the Voting Rights Act, but it's worth a read, too. In a lot of ways, it helps set up the legislative journey that the Voting Rights Act would take by illustrating how it wasn't just one party or political leaders from one section of the country who fought for or against civil rights legislation. When it came time to actually count the votes, a Democratic President from the South needed the help of many Republican politicians to pass the legislation because of the vehement opposition of Southern Democrats.

And let's not forget that the legislative aspect of the Civil Rights Movement was just one part. The lifeblood of the Movement was the people fighting for their freedom and finally forcing the politicians to pass legislation that genuinely began to make a difference in people's lives. So, I'd also recommend reading all three volumes of Taylor Branch's Pulitzer Prize-winning America in the King Years trilogy (BOOK SET | KINDLE SET), particularly the second volume --Pillar of Fire: America in the King Years, 1963-65 (BOOK | KINDLE) -- and the third volume --At Canaan's Edge: America in the King years, 1965-68 (BOOK | KINDLE). But, really, the whole trilogy should be required reading for Americans. John Lewis's Walking With the Wind: A Memoir of the Movement should be, too.