Robert Caro says he may not have changed his writing approach: although he knows a book is becoming too long and much will need to be cut, he feels unable to omit material he believes should be written.

“But the way I am, I don't know that I would've changed anything because as I'm writing the book, I'm saying, "Oh, this is too long. This is gonna be too long.”

“I'm gonna have to cut so much."”

“But I don't seem to have the ability not to write the stuff that I s- think should be written, even though I know so much of it is h- gonna have to be cut.”