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

The Power Broker Robert Moses and the Fall of New York

Robert A. Caro

PULITZER PRIZE WINNER • A modern American classic, this huge and galvanizing biography of Robert Moses reveals not only the saga of one man’s incredible accumulation of power but the story of his shaping (and mis-shaping) of twentieth-century New York. One of the Modern Library’s hundred greatest b...

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The Ezra Klein Show

It was praised for its exhaustive detail, literary style and lasting influence on readers interested in power and New York history.

"

Before all that, however, in September 1974, 50 years ago, he published The Power Broker, a book about the man who built modern New York City, Robert Moses.

— Episode: Book Review: Robert Caro on 50 Years of...

Episode: Book Review: Robert Caro on 50 Years of ‘The Power...

It was praised for its exhaustive detail, literary style and lasting influence on readers interested in power and New York history.

"

Before all that, however, in September 1974, 50 years ago, he published The Power Broker, a book about the man who built modern New York City, Robert Moses.

They're very complimentary about it. I've never read anything like it. You've explained to me where power comes from, a particular kind of power.

And I think anyone who reads The Power Broker would agree, that is also, as you have said many times, you tried to do a real piece of literary work. It's not only the facts, it is the prose.

That was my conversation with Robert Caro about his magnificent book, The Power Broker, which is celebrating its 50th anniversary this fall.

I have to say, when I started this book, I don't think there was any real awareness, even among mayors and council members and governors, of where this power came from.

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