The Final LBJ Volume Anticipation

The fifth and final volume of Robert Caro’s The Years of Lyndon Johnson — covering the presidency, the Great Society, Vietnam, and Johnson’s decision not to seek re-election — is the most anticipated book in American nonfiction. Caro has been working on it for over a decade, and his age (ninety) makes every year that passes without publication more fraught.

What We Know

Caro has stated in interviews that the final volume will cover Johnson’s presidency in full — the passage of the Civil Rights Act of 1964, the Voting Rights Act of 1965, the Great Society legislation, the escalation of the Vietnam War, and the political and personal collapse that led Johnson to announce he would not run in 1968. The scope is enormous, potentially the longest volume in the series.

The Collector’s Dilemma

The anticipated fifth volume presents a unique collecting opportunity — and anxiety. If published, it will be the culmination of one of the great literary projects of our time, and first editions will be intensely sought. Pre-orders and first-day purchases from major bookstores will be essential. If it remains unfinished at Caro’s death, the existing four volumes become the complete set, and their value as a finite body of work increases accordingly.

What Collectors Should Do Now

Assemble the existing four volumes in signed first editions while they remain available at current prices. If the fifth volume appears, you’ll have the foundation of a complete set. If it doesn’t, you’ll have the definitive Caro LBJ collection regardless. Either way, these are among the most important American books of the past fifty years.