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

By Robert Caro

Categories: Biographies & Memoirs

Robert Caro's 1974 biography traces the career of Robert Moses, who never won elected office yet used a series of appointed posts to reshape New York City and State. Caro shows how Moses began as an idealistic reformer and became a master of political power, building dozens of highways, bridges, parks and public works. He also documents the cost of that power, including the neighborhoods and communities displaced to make way for Moses's projects.

Recommended by 5 people

• Sam Hinkie
• Ryan Holiday
• Seth Godin: “Book list, Fall 2019: The Power Broker (audio) by Robert Caro”
• Shane Parrish: “Robert Caro’s masterpiece on New York political power between the 1920s and the 1960s, focuses on Robert Moses — the creator of institutions like the Parks Commission and the Bridge, Port, and Tunnel Authorities. Sound mundane? You’ll have to read the book to see what kind of power that gave him.”
• Ben Shapiro: “The book is just beautifully written and Robert Carroll is a tremendous writer.”