by Robert A. Caro
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Product Description
The story of Robert Moses, who shaped the politics, the physical structure and even the problems of urban decline in New York.
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Average Customer Review:
0 of 0 people found the following review helpful:
My favorite book, 2010-07-05
The best book I have ever read about New York and the power of one man.
0 of 0 people found the following review helpful:
Primer to New York City Urban Planning & Governance, 2010-06-16
The content doesn't seem vintage by any standards even today. With over a thousand pages, it is arranged in such a way that you can read it in short bursts of 10-20 pages. That way you can distribute your reading time, and still keep the flow seamless.
It does make sense to get a real feel of New York city in order to appreciate the book a tad further. My close study of New York city while at school did help me a lot. Retrospectively, I am happy to see the Washington Square Park still alive and bustling with activity around which my school - New York University is located. If it wasn't for local community outcry, Moses would have had his way!
For a book this big, I do however suggest you to read the first few chapters more intently, as the later development of the story is constantly related to its first few chapters.
I strongly believe that we are lucky to have Robert Caro write about Moses, a man shrouded in mystery. It indeed might have required superhuman effort to investigate about the causes, hidden causes, and effects of Moses' decisions on the city and the people at large. One of those rarest of the rare books which fall into the category of 'classics' in modern times.
1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:
The Power Broker by Robert Caro, 2010-04-24
At this point, what more can be said about The Power Broker? That is is easily one of the best non-fiction books ever written? That it is a product of Caro's unflagging patience, intelligence and research? That it perfectly tells the story of one man's devastating impact on the great world city? That it is perhaps more fun than any great book? All of the above is applicable here, as the product perfectly matches the hype.
Caro succeeds so well because of his eye for detail. Robert Moses' accomplishments are discussed in the book's prologue, and we spend the next 1,200 pages or so learning all about them in detail. We get to know Moses as a headstrong young man, coming into his intelligence more and more and using it to make everyone in his path do his bidding. He gets menial employment after college, forsaking money due to his affluent background, but sticks to his principles in a time of great change in New York City. Eventually those go out the door as Moses starts amassing his power, through overpowering Albany with his rapaciousness and brilliant alliances, and the legend grows from there until he is one of the most powerful men in the United States. We learn about major players like Alfred E. Smith, LaGuardia, and FDR in a behind-the-curtain way that makes you second guess their public images. We learn about Moses' talents in bill writing, and how he used it to get pretty much whatever he wanted out of the state and federal governments. We learn of how he was able to build the West Side Highway, Jones Beach, and the Cross-Bronx Expressway, but his downfall began over a small patch of land in Central Park. We learn about Moses' disdain for the public, and his desire to create bridges and parks to satisfy his own ego rather than anything for the public good.
Any review cannot properly encapsulate Moses' achievements, their impact and how he went about making them, the tactics he employed, the people he ruined, the money he squandered, the lies he told, the decades of toil, the Herculean strength and brutishness he repressed everyone with, and in short the countless choices he and he alone made that forever changed New York City and its surrounding areas, but it is all here for you to experience. This is all written in a prose that is professional yet compulsively readable- you're going to miss this book once you've finished it. It is a testament to the wayward politics of the early twentieth century, the genius and madness of Robert Moses, as well as the incomparable talents of Mr Caro that raise this biography of reportage to art. Any knowledge whatsoever of Robert Moses isn't necessary to enjoy this book. Read it if you like biography. Read it if you like New York. Read it if you've ever heard of New York. This is a stunning achievement.
0 of 0 people found the following review helpful:
Classic look at urban history and political power, 2010-02-28
This book is a truly fascinating study for those interested in the urban history of New York, political power, or urban development. It clearly looks at the rise of Robert Moses who would go on to hold 12 different state, local and private positions including president of the World Fair. Through these interlocking positions Moses would command the resources to build almost all of the major roads, bridges and parkways in the five boroughs today. The story of how these roads came into being is fascinating and articulately and artfully told in this wonderful narrative. In a story so mind boggling it is almost hard to believe you see how "the civil servant that got things done" accomplishes bureaucratic wrangling to harness federal, state, local and private dollars into mammoth building projects. From Jones Beach to the Triborough Authority the master of legislative and monetary manipulation brought together the necessary engineering and political talent to achieve these projects in record time. Despite having enemies as powerful as the President of the United States Franklin Roosevelt or mayor of New York City La Guardia try to oust him he always held on. His ability to blend power from a variety of different sources and form "authorities" that were semi private with shareholders protected by legal rights he could keep his positions. The book covers so many different aspects that a review could go on for 30 pages but the bottom line is that this is a classic in political and urban history that should not be missed.Cl
1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:
Power in America, 2010-02-19
This is the best non-fiction book I have ever read. Seriously. It is probably the best biography, the best urban history, and the best study of power written in the latter half of the 20th century (though Caro's still-unfinished LBJ saga may top "Broker;" I haven't read those yet).
Essentially, for 40+ years Robert Moses was the most powerful man in the entire state of New York. A large portion of his power was derived from his chairmanship of the Triborough Bridge Authority. Typically, a public authority shuts down after its bonds have been repaid and its construction projects have been finished. But Moses, called by Caro "the best bill drafter in Albany," set up the Authority in a way that allowed him to continually issue bonds year after year after year. And since the Constitution states that "No states shall...impair the obligations of contracts," no one could do anything about it. Triborough became a small empire for Moses...at its homebase on Randall's Island, the TBA was the supreme law of the land, and it was enforced by some 200 TBA police officers. Moses often used them to escort his big limousine around NYC and Long Island.
One big factor in Moses' power was the press. For four decades he maintained the image of a totally non-political and selfless public servant (he famously refused to take a salary for most of his positions). The sometimes-willful ignorance of the press to Moses' abuses of power is amazing to read. Caro painstakingly documents so many of them.
His genius and his impact are absolutely inimitable. Name a major bridge, parkway, expressway, thruway, park, or beach in the New York metropolitan area, Long Island, or New York State, and the MAJORITY of them will have been built by Robert Moses. This was a guy who almost never slept, who swam out into the middle of the ocean alone when he was in his 80s, who fell into absolutely horrifying bouts of rage when someone dared to disagree with him. He may have been one of the greatest abusers of power in recent history but, as Caro says, he "Got Things Done."
I loved reading about the absolute control he exercised over various New York mayors, governors, and other officials. He would routinely ignore requests to meet with mayors; if they wanted to meet with Moses, they had to come to him. Every time a new mayor was sworn in, Moses would grab the slips on which mayoral appointments were written and write his own name and position on them. The mayor would then meekly sign it, knowing that he couldn't possibly deny Moses any of those positions.
I could say so much more but the other reviewers have already covered the book's strengths. I'll end with this: Moses was one of the most fascinating politicians in the history of this country. But so many have already forgotten him. I hope people will read this book to learn not only about Moses, bu about New York, Washington, and most importantly the use of political power in this country.
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