The Power Broker
Robert Caro
50 people recommended it in 25 threads, 2009–2025.
What people on Hacker News said
The Power Broker, by Robert Caro - unbeatably rich and compelling look at how power and politics actually work, for better (power gets things done) and for worse (power blinds and corrupts)
The Power Broker by Robert Caro. This one actually took me about 6 months between reading and Audible, because it is in some ways too detailed, but the naked use of power for maintaining power for a singular vision is illuminating. Even in an antagonistic biography, Moses leaps off the page as a bright, energetic, flawed human.
I adore this book. It also took me 6 months to read. I think about it often while wandering around the city, imagining the areas before and after Moses' steel-and-concrete hand, imagining the old neighborhoods, trying to envision what could be next, what could have been, what could be.
I agree on The Power Broker; it is kind of amazing and changed my view of New York City. To summarize, Robert Moses leveraged a parks commission position to reshape New York City how he wanted it: from bridges and expressways and urban renewal to the Lincoln Center and United Nations buildings.
Nobody has ever captured the nature of power on an individual level to the depth and breadth that Caro did on this book. (except perhaps his epic treatment of Lyndon Johnson)
The Power Broker - About Robert Moses, the most powerful city planner in New York from the 1930s to the 1960s. Great if you're interested in city planning, how people gain and exercise power, and the real politik of government.
'The Power Broker' by Robert Caro is ostensibly a biography, but it's actually about how power works. The protagonist starts out employing idealistic methods, but falls flat on his face, and comes to delight in any means of achievement.
How Moses acquired the power (genius, legislation, money and, through them, influence) to physically reshape New York City and State seems pretty relevant to understanding how things work today.
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