The Power Broker

The Power Broker

Robert Moses held no elected office. His name almost never appeared on a ballot, and the voting public rarely—in some cases, never—had the slightest notion of the immense influence he wielded or how New York City and its suburbs were shaped by his vision. Yet for nearly half a century, Robert Moses exercised more power than any other figure in the history of the city and state of New York. So powerful was Moses, in fact, that both Mayors and Governors, including strong and resourceful politicians like Fiorello La Guardia and Franklin Roosevelt, answered his summonses and carried out his plans.

Robert Moses ruled New York, building bridges, tunnels, expressways, highways, parkways, roads, parks, stadiums, beaches, public housing, private housing, power dams, and much more besides. He was the greatest builder America has ever known, possibly the greatest builder the world has ever known. Even the map of the city looked different after Moses was done: he rammed bulkheads of steel deep into the city's rivers, pouring earth and stone to permanently alter the shoreline. And to make room for his massive and sweeping projects, Moses literally eliminated neighborhood after neighborhood, displacing not thousands, not tens of thousands, but hundreds of thousands of New Yorkers, using bulldozers and explosives to raze their homes, businesses, and churches.

“Robert Moses,” writes Robert A. Caro, “shaped a city and its sprawling suburbs—and, to an extent that would have astonished analysts of urban trends had they measured the implications of his decades of handiwork, influenced the destiny of all the cities of twentieth century America.” In The Power Broker, Caro tells the riveting and extraordinary story of Robert Moses' rise to power, from his Progressive Era-upbringing to his unprecedented hold over the greatest city in the world.

Instantly recognized as a landmark of both urban history and political biography, The Power Broker is, in the words of historian David Halberstam, “surely the greatest book ever written about a city.” Jane Jacobs, acclaimed author of The Death and Life of Great American Cities and one of Moses' most eloquent and effective foes, declared The Power Broker to be “an immense public service.” Winner of both the Pulitzer Prize and the 1975 Francis Parkman Prize from the Society of American Historians, The Power Broker is simply one of the greatest historical works published in our age. The History Book Club is proud to include this exclusive hardcover edition in our Parkman Prize series.

ABOUT THE AUTHOR:
For his biographies of Robert Moses and Lyndon Johnson, Robert A. Caro has twice won the Pulitzer Prize for Biography, twice won the National Book Critics Circle Award for Best Nonfiction Book of the Year, and has also won virtually every other major literary honor, including the National Book Award and a Gold Medal from the American Academy of Arts and Letters. Caro graduated from Princeton University and later became a Nieman Fellow at Harvard University. He lives in New York City with his wife, Ina, an historian and writer.

Hardcover: 1344 pages

Publisher: History Book Club ( July 12, 1974 )

Item #: 09-4487

ISBN: 9781582882611

Product Dimensions: 6.0 x 9.0 x 2.13 inches

Product Weight: 61.0 ounces