David gives another in his series of talks about democracy. This one draws on the theme of his new book Where Power Stops: The Making and Unmaking of Presidents and Prime Ministers. From Lyndon Johnson to Boris Johnson, does power reveal the true character of politicians or do politicians reveal the true character of power? What sets the limits to what presidents and prime minsters can do? And how do we find them? https://profilebooks.com/where-power-stops-hb.html
The books that have had the single largest influence on modern Western politicians are Robert Caro’s biographies of Lyndon Johson.
Caro says that the lesson of Johnson’s life is that power corrupts, but power also reveals. David disagrees.
Are Trump and Boris Johnson part of this pattern?
Further Learning:
And as ever, recommended reading curated by our friends at the LRB can be found here: lrb.co.uk/talking
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