The Power Broker: Robert Moses and the Fall of New York

The Power Broker: Robert Moses and the Fall of New York

By: Robert A. Caro  

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Average Customer Rating: 5.0 out of 5

Publisher: Vintage

Release Date: 1975-07-12

Customer Review: 5 out of 5
Biography, Instruction Manual, Warning, etc. - What more can be said about this book? For over 1,100 pages, it captured my attention. I cannot recall one moment when I wasn't excited to pick the book up and dive into the story.

Caro paints the whole picture. He begins before Moses was even born. You'll learn about Moses' family -- his henpecked father (even Moses later thinks this) and his headstrong and brilliant mother. You then get to see Moses as a student at Yale where he's a poetic virtuoso and admirer of Samuel Johnson. Indeed, later in the story when Moses is in nearly the full swing of his power, he quotes Johnson during a speech to compliment (but really insult) a certain politician -- as Caro tells it, it's one of my favorite parts of the book.

You see Moses the idealist -- starry eyed and seemingly a proponent of all things good -- swept under the wings of Al Smith and Belle Moskowitz, some of the most fascinating personalities in the book. At this point, the story takes off. Moses gets the press on his side and never really looses them for 40 years. Still, one gets the sense that the poet within Moses never really left him, despite his gruffness and outward toughness. He's labeled the "best bill drafter in Albany" -- one of the major reasons he was able to accumulate so much power -- because he had a poet's way with words. Amazingly, we learn that Moses wrote at least one novel under a pen name. Later on, Moses comes full circle by writing literary criticism for a Newsday.

Moses was inspiring, infuriating, likable, not likable, and endlessly fascinating. Caro's writing is wonderful, with an almost conversational quality. His research for this book -- which he details (parts of, at least) in the back of the book -- is nothing short of awe-inspiring. Caro left no stone unturned. I watched an interview of Caro not too long ago, and he mentioned that he was on the fence about doing the book's most famous chapter, "One Mile". Torn between the money-tight realities of life, and artistic desire, Caro decided to plunge ahead (with his wife's support) and embark on the six months' worth of research the chapter would need. The reader is thankful Caro make that choice.

Customer Review: 5 out of 5
My favorite book - The best book I have ever read about New York and the power of one man.

Customer Review: 5 out of 5
Primer to New York City Urban Planning & Governance - 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.

Customer Review: 5 out of 5
The Power Broker by Robert Caro - 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.

Customer Review: 5 out of 5
Classic look at urban history and political power - 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

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