The Power Broker

Robert Moses and the Fall of New York

by
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Robert A. Caro: The Power Broker (Paperback)

Paperback, 1246 pages

English language

Published Sept. 16, 1974

ISBN:
978-0-394-72024-1
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5 stars (1 review)

The Power Broker: Robert Moses and the Fall of New York is a 1974 biography of Robert Moses by Robert Caro. The book focuses on the creation and use of power in New York local and state politics, as witnessed through Moses' use of unelected positions to design and implement dozens of highways and bridges, sometimes at great cost to the communities he nominally served. It has been repeatedly named one of the best biographies of the 20th century, and has been highly influential on city planners and politicians throughout the United States. The book won a Pulitzer Prize in 1975.

4 editions

reviewed The Power Broker by Robert A. Caro

Review of "The Power Broker"

5 stars

One of the best books I've ever read, and probably my biggest reading achievement.

I loved the way it was written. It filled in a lot of gaps about (US) urban planning/politics that I think were important. It's definitely a sobering look at how things "get done"... and if I read it at a different time I think it would have been too frustrating to finish.

Chapters 39 and 40 are I think the most impactful for me. The fact that they all knew none of this was working and still kept at expanding highways just really shows how nothing has changed and that this whole "traffic planning" is a farce and had no basis in reality to begin with. Maybe the externalities/costs are too abstract, idk anymore.

Thanks for nothin, Moses.

Subjects

  • Robert Moses