Working: Researching, Interviewing, Writing

In this memoir of craft, Robert A. Caro details the investigative techniques he employed to document the political lives of Robert Moses and Lyndon B. Johnson. He explains his methodical approach to historical research, such as moving to the Texas Hill Country to gain the trust of local sources and digging through massive archives to uncover the mechanics of infrastructure and legislation. The book outlines his practice of interviewing subjects multiple times to break through rehearsed narratives and emphasizes his rule of "turning every page" to find hidden connections in public records.

Journalists, biographers, and students of political history read this volume to understand the labor required to analyze power structures. Readers gain a practical framework for primary source research and long-form reporting. The text provides a blueprint for how to organize vast amounts of data and how to translate bureaucratic processes into human stories. It serves as a technical guide for anyone needing to reconstruct complex past events through a lens of exhaustive factual verification and persistent inquiry.