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The Power Broker
- Robert Moses and the Fall of New York
- Narrated by: Robertson Dean
- Length: 66 hrs and 9 mins
- Unabridged Audiobook
- Categories: Politics & Social Sciences, Politics & Government
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Publisher's Summary
Everywhere acknowledged as a modern American classic, winner of the Pulitzer Prize, and chosen by the Modern Library as one of the hundred greatest books of the 20th century, The Power Broker is a galvanizing biography revealing not only the saga of one man's incredible accumulation of power, but the story of the shaping (and mis-shaping) of New York in the 20th century.
Robert Caro's monumental book makes public what few outsiders knew: that Robert Moses was the single most powerful man of his time in the City and in the State of New York. And in telling the Moses story, Caro both opens up to an unprecedented degree the way in which politics really happens - the way things really get done in America's city halls and statehouses - and brings to light a bonanza of vital information about such national figures as Alfred E. Smith and Franklin D. Roosevelt (and the genesis of their blood feud), about Fiorello La Guardia, John V. Lindsay and Nelson Rockefeller.
But The Power Broker is first and foremost a brilliant multidimensional portrait of a man - an extraordinary man who, denied power within the normal framework of the democratic process, stepped outside that framework to grasp power sufficient to shape a great city and to hold sway over the very texture of millions of lives. We see how Moses began: the handsome, intellectual young heir to the world of Our Crowd, an idealist. How, rebuffed by the entrenched political establishment, he fought for the power to accomplish his ideals. How he first created a miraculous flowering of parks and parkways, playlands and beaches - and then ultimately brought down on the city the smog-choked aridity of our urban landscape, the endless miles of (never sufficient) highway, the hopeless sprawl of Long Island, the massive failures of public housing, and countless other barriers to humane living. How, inevitably, the accumulation of power became an end in itself.
Moses built an empire and lived like an emperor. He was held in fear - his dossiers could disgorge the dark secrets of anyone who opposed him. He was, he claimed, above politics, above deals; and through decade after decade, the newspapers and the public believed.
Meanwhile, he was developing his public authorities into a fourth branch of government known as "Triborough" - a government whose records were closed to the public, whose policies and plans were decided not by voters or elected officials but solely by Moses - an immense economic force directing pressure on labor unions, on banks, on all the city's political and economic institutions, and on the press, and on the Church. He doled out millions of dollars' worth of legal fees, insurance commissions, lucrative contracts on the basis of who could best pay him back in the only coin he coveted: power. He dominated the politics and politicians of his time - without ever having been elected to any office. He was, in essence, above our democratic system.
Robert Moses held power in the state for 44 years, through the governorships of Smith, Roosevelt, Lehman, Dewey, Harriman, and Rockefeller, and in the city for 34 years, through the mayoralties of La Guardia, O'Dwyer, Impellitteri, Wagner, and Lindsay. He personally conceived and carried through public works costing $27 billion - he was undoubtedly America's greatest builder.
This is how he built and dominated New York - before, finally, he was stripped of his reputation (by the press) and of his power (by Nelson Rockefeller). But his work, and his will, had been done.
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Average Customer RatingsReviews - Please select the tabs below to change the source of reviews.
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- Utilisateur anonyme
- 2018-04-01
Thorough and incredible
Probably the best biography I have ever read, and the best piece of behind the scenes political reporting as well. It's long, but never feels tedious.
4 people found this helpful
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- Jacob Catalano
- 2018-09-19
The most incredible book I have ever read
I randomly heard this book brought up on a podcast and I thought I would check it out. When I saw how long it was I was shocked - it would be the longest book I had ever listened to but I figured I'd give it a shot, even if I was unlikely to finish it.
I was less than an hour into the book when I knew definitively that this is one of the best books I have ever listened to. I not only went on to devour the book, but I also have started listening to the other Robert Caro books which are on Lyndon Johnson. They are equally amazing. I could not recommend this or any other Robert Caro book more. #Audible1
2 people found this helpful
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- Brett Chandler
- 2021-05-03
Not even done yet, but...
This may be my favorite book. Ever. And I'm maybe a quarter way through it.
A few people I greatly respect made mention of The Power Broker and that was enough to pique my curiosity. While I was daunted by the 66 hour+ length, I found myself enthralled in moments and stopped worrying.
Robert Caro has done something spectacular here: a rich work of non-fiction that is as compellingly written as it is painstakingly researched. He doesn't embellish or reconstruct; he doesn't need to. He had thousands of hours of interviews to draw on (including with Moses himself) and source documents that clearly had him digging in newspaper morgues and public archives for years. Caro presents this encyclopedic detail with a fine sense of narrative. He evokes some great visuals and sets context beautifully. In one instance, he spends a half-chapter just detailing how difficult it was for New York families in the 20s to find any kind of outdoor recreation and you can palpably feel their frustration. Later, the account of the opening of Moses' renovated Central Park Zoo—a project important to Moses as tribute to his friend, diminished former NY Governor Alfred E. Smith—carries surprising emotional weight.
Robertson Dean provides outstanding narration, though I'll confess I find his diction a little slow. I've been enjoying the book at 1.4x speed and it's been perfect (and cuts about 20 hours off the run-time).
I recommend this most particularly to anyone interested in the way government works ANYWHERE. But even past that, it's a worthwhile read even as a piece of entertainment. It's astoundingly engaging for something this long and well-crafted.
1 person found this helpful
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- Matt K
- 2022-06-23
great!
best biography ever written. good narrator as well. listened multiple tines over the years.
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- Jenny Jenkins
- 2014-06-29
Superb Narration of an Essential Story
Where does The Power Broker rank among all the audiobooks you’ve listened to so far?
Probably among the top two or three. It does all that I ask of audiobooks. It permits me to read long books that I don't have time to read otherwise; keeps me intellectually engaged; and provides a narrator whose grasp of the material is reflected in the nuanced way in which he or she reads.
What did you like best about this story?
Robert Moses literally shaped New York City's 20th and 21st century destiny. Robert Caro pieces together the story of how and why Robert Moses did so to weave a universal story of power and how it is acquired and maintained, a personal story of a man of greatness and severe deficiencies, and an essential study of urban planning and government, and their ways, means, and impacts.
What about Robertson Dean’s performance did you like?
Robertson Dean's straightforward, intelligent, heartfelt, measured performance was incredible. He seemed to fully understand all that he was reading -- familiar with all the names and ideas found there -- and I wondered how many times he had read the text before the performance. His pacing was also perfect -- not too fast, not too slow.
Did you have an extreme reaction to this book? Did it make you laugh or cry?
It made me furious. I hadn't realized that the lack of amenities -- park areas, playground areas -- in Harlem and other principally black neighborhoods was not the result of benign neglect but of active racism. Having grown up there and now being a mother myself, I now see that the teenaged boys who lived in cramped, unpleasant apartments had no other recourse than to hang out in the streets and expose themselves to bad influences and predators -- the odds were so stacked against them from that aspect of their existence alone. I also hadn't realized to what extent the funds that might have improved schools and hospitals -- facilities that were crumbling in the 1950s through 1970s -- were channeled instead to the highways and bridges that Moses masterminded. And I was inspired by those who successfully -- and unsuccessfully -- fought against Moses' incursions into thriving neighborhoods, and fascinated to see how Moses' power eventually and suddenly crumbled.
Any additional comments?
I don't know if this would be as compelling to the reader who isn't able to visualize the places under scrutiny -- Randall's Island, Triboro Bridge, Jones Beach. But if you are familiar with New York and don't really understand how this city became the way it is now, you must listen to this book. The story of Robert Moses is -- not at all metaphorically but in the most concrete sense -- the story of New York, the city and the state.
41 people found this helpful
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- jeff
- 2011-09-15
AMAZING read
This is such an amazing listening experience! If this was fiction you would say it was way too far fetched. Truth is so much stranger. Of my 300 audible books this is in the top 5. For those of you who have been lucky enough to read.. Master of the Senate.. this is the book end for that fab series on lyndon johnson. It was robert caros purpose to expose the workings of power on the local and national level, hence this award winning masterpiece of research and writing, taking almost 10 years to write, AND the lyndon johnson series, the last of which were still waiting for impatiently. I learned so much about power, politics and how the world really works by reading caros masterpieces. If you dont like long books- Be forewarned it is long, really long! I wouldnt cut a single word out of it though. It was actually been cut and edited back to fit in a paperback form. A must read, as far as I'm concerned
73 people found this helpful
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- Wolfpacker
- 2013-09-30
Absolute Power Corrupts Absolutely
A story of an idealist, Robert Moses, who becomes jaded and calloused by the system, who learns to work the system to gain power, and who then proceeds to collect more and more power over his long career. This power corrupts him quickly and completely. You will despise the man and his methods while being fascinated by his cleverness. I debated on whether to give this excellent book 4 or 5 stars, and I only opted for the lower rating because of the length. Moses stayed in power for over 40 years. and there was plenty of material for Caro to write about. After a while, the incidences and conflicts become a bit repetitive. I think It would have held my undivided attention better if some of the repeated stories had been cataloged but not told in their entirety. Caro tells the stories masterfully, and some may wish he related even more. I would have preferred a few less.
24 people found this helpful
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- Turangalila
- 2013-07-13
Every LI'er (NY'er/American) should know this book
I was born on Long Island in the year after Nelson Rockefeller finally brought to an end Robert Moses' decades of almost unfathomable power. I grew up in the landscape and society he did so much to create: amid his roads and his parks, and the suburban sprawl and ennui they made possible (indeed inevitable). My forbears were the poor Irish who came over to work for the rich Barons whom he fought, defeated, and later allied with. My family's upward mobility was won largely through the construction trades that his projects bankrolled and shaped. Hecksher State Park, Jones Beach, the Southern State Parkway, the Long Island Expressway, the Long Island Railroad that he nearly killed – these shaped my youth; they helped shape me, and millions of others of my generation and our successors.
I never quite understood how and why my society came to be this way until I finally tackled Caro's masterful biography cum history. I'd tried and failed before to read it, but it wasn't until I tried this wonderful audio version that I was able to absorb the whole of it. Robertson Dean's reading is a bit deliberate at times – I was grateful for Audible's Narration Speed feature, and listened to much of it at 1.25 times normal – but he does wonderful work in navigating Caro's sometimes dense prose, especially in the long exegeses of urban planning, legal niceties, economics, natural history, engineering, and on and on, which are crucial to understanding Moses' methods and impact.
Not that Caro neglects the human element. Indeed, the character portraits of figures like Fiorello LaGuardia, Joseph Papp, the dogged reporters who did so much to cut Moses' image down to size in the '50s and '60s, and especially of the criminally neglected Al Smith, are each worth the price of admission.
He's equally thorough and insightful in his portrayal of the wider society: the elites who Moses fought and later controlled, the neighborhoods he ended up destroying, and especially the press he played like a cheap fiddle (the New York Times especially does not come out of this book smelling too rosy).
I only wish Caro had come back to this subject in succeeding decades and brought his intrepid scholarship and insight to the history of post-Moses era; but he chose instead to spend the next 40+ years on LBJ. After experiencing this amazing more-than-biography, I look forward to tackling that even larger opus, probably with Audible's help.
23 people found this helpful
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- Paul
- 2013-01-01
A spectacular history of New York City
Robert Moses is a classic example of the enigmatic political giant. Simultaneously, a genius and heartless dictator, it is difficult for me to make up my mind about his true value. The book is spectacular in portraying both his unbelievable accomplishments and the heartless manner in which he achieved them. Although he did build many public works, it appears that these parkways, expressways and bridges, although visually monumental, were ultimately damaging to the healthy growth of New York City. It’s clear that he built all of these structures for the facilitation of the automobile. His total dedication to the automobile, his genius and his stubbornness are aptly portrayed in one small vignette: When he designed and constructed all of the Parkways in New York, he made all of the bridges that crossed them, less than eleven feet of clearance. He acknowledged that this would prevent the passage of any busses. This has prevented the use of these Parkways for public transportation and would have helped reduced traffic congestion. It’s clear that he wanted visible monuments to himself because he refused to have any tunnels constructed. His solution to traffic congestion caused by his bridges was to build more bridges even though the evidence was that bridges were the cause of the problem not the solution. Had he spent one tenth the money and effort on public transportation, the horrible traffic congestion and urban sprawl that resulted would have been eliminated. As a study in the attainment in power, this book is superb and is easily on the same level with Machiavelli’s, “The Prince”. Although Moses achieved so much, it is hard to like a man who was so arrogant and condescending to everyone. He was the living example of how absolute power corrupts absolutely. One strange omission was the sage of the Brooklyn Dodgers. As a Brooklyn Dodger fan, I was disappointed that Caro didn’t point out that Moses singlehandedly forced the Dodgers to move to California. This is a great book and one that is both educational and exciting.
38 people found this helpful
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- jack lichtenstein
- 2014-01-19
A masterpiece
In the Jewish religion on Yom Kippur, the day of atonement,there is a reckoning. All of your good deeds are written down and the all of the bad deeds. they are placed on a scale and you are so judged. This book is Robert Moses' day or reckoning. All of the good deeds and bad deeds are recorded over more than 66 hours of audio and judged by Robert Caro, master biographer. In the process we learn as much about Robert Caro and his values as Robert Moses. Mr. Caro is able to make the most mundane traffic planning commitee meetings into Shakesperian drama and power struggles. And there are a lifetime of planning and building documented here. In fact, we learn very little of Robert Moses personal life, aside from the fact he was mean to his older brother Paul and cheated him out of his birthright.
On the other hand we learn about all of the power struggles and maneuvering that went into the planning and building of Jones Beach and the development of Long Island. We learn of Moses ability to drive a stake and take possession of homes, lands and other people's ideas to achieve his goal of parks and public works. How he would sell his soul to the devil for power. How he utilized public resources and facilites fro his own devices.And how he knowingly displaced hundreds of thousands of people from their homes, unnecessarily for his title one projects and super highways and bridges.
Along the waty we learn everything there is to know about New York politics and power struggles, inclusive of the years 1920 to 1970. Including, Alfred Smith, Franklin Roosevelt, Herman Lehman, Fiorello Laguardia, Nelson Rockefeller, Robert Wagner and John Lindsay.
Mr .Caro has invested 10 years of his life into investigating and interviewing every one involved with at least 82 years of Mr. Moses 91 year life. Even after listening to the entire book it is difficult to know how to judge Mr. Moses. Almost no one else in the History of the world had such single mindedness and drive to acquire power through bulilding parks, bridges and roads, rather than by obtaining high offices or fighting wars. As Mr. Caro points out there is no comparable person in recorded history.
This is by far the most edifying book I have ever read, and I would say the best book I have listened to or read. I guess I will have to listen to the Lyndon Johnson series to fill the void in my life.
25 people found this helpful
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- Jeff
- 2012-05-15
AN ASTOUNDING UNFORGETTABLE TRIUMPH !!!!
Sound over the top? Its not. This is that oh so rare super-book that leaves you gasping at its unimaginable stupendednes . Doubt it? check out its amazon ratings or try to find an award it hasnt won. You may recognize Caro from his masterful Lyndon Johnson multi-book bio which includes MASTER OF THE SENATE. or his just released volume of said- titled The Passage Of Power
You may not have heard of Robert Moses before but once you read this you'll wonder how thats possible ! I really don't know what else to say other than its a masterpiece that's not to be missed and its in the top 5 of my 900 titles. Very long book but worth every word! Well narrated and a MUST READ if there ever was one.
OH hbo is making a mini series of this book that should be coming out in a year or 2
25 people found this helpful
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- Stephen
- 2012-03-15
A must-know for New Yorkers
Would you recommend this audiobook to a friend? If so, why?
If you grew up in the New York area, as I did, whether you've even heard of him or not, Robert Moses had a dramatic impact on your life. Virtually every highway in NY and Long Island is where it is because Moses said it should be and most parks are either there because of Moses or look that way they do because of him.
Moses was a controversial figure, to be sure, and Caro pulls no punches in criticizing him thoroughly and harshly in many cases (a Moses sympathizer might argue that the entire book is one long hit piece). But the book also brilliantly chronicles the story of one of the great bureaucrats in the world history; a man who simply know how to get things done and get them done his way, come Hell or high water. Elliot Spitzer once said that if a Moses biography would be written today, it would be entitled
What did you like best about this story?
The way Caro traces the development of Moses' personality from young good government idealist to power-obsessed king of his own feifdom.
Which scene was your favorite?
The confrontation with Wagner on inauguration day over the appointment to the city planning board summed up Moses in a single incident.You could hate the man and have more power than the man, but you still couldn't resist doing what he ordered you to do.
Did you have an extreme reaction to this book? Did it make you laugh or cry?
This is not really a funny or sad book, though some of the anecdotes are pretty funny.
11 people found this helpful
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- James
- 2012-02-13
Landmark, the best of many genres.
Where does The Power Broker rank among all the audiobooks you’ve listened to so far?
Top 3. Quite simply the greatest combined work of public administration, urban planning, political biography, and big city politics ever. For any young man or woman who is considering a career in public service, read this first. It is superior to any single graduate course in public administration of political science, and provides an important tutorial on how the real world works. The audio version is wonderful
What other book might you compare The Power Broker to and why?
Caro's LBJ series is the only serious competitor in the field of 20th century political biography.
What’s the most interesting tidbit you’ve picked up from this book?
Spoiler alert; one example of the power of Robert Moses was how he was able to push around Governor and then President Franklin D. Roosevelt.
7 people found this helpful
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- Tim
- 2019-07-30
Excellent
I've been absent from my book club for a few weeks now. I'm not really sure what other people in our group is reading or what is popular this summer. For the past few weeks, I've been submerge into Robert Moses life, triumphs and failures at building the global capital of the world, New York and it's surrounding areas.
I have one word for "The Power Broker", that it is excellent. Robert A. Caro is an amazing historian. He wrote Moses' biography not so much as a time capsule, but more like a 10 season documentary. The multi volumes of this book is a challenge to read at first, but once you start on the first minute, 66 hours is not draining at all.
At one point in the audiobook, I needed to go to the store and get some weekend chores done. Usually, I take a break in between and go out, but this time, I couldn't stop listening about the parks and the hardship of New Yorkers. While being asked if I wanted a bag for the items that I was buying, I saw my reflection and forgot that I left the house with my headphones on my ears. I was so in tuned of this book that I forgot what I was there to purchase.
I've visited New York many times and was picturing when I was reading, but the book doesn't do justice because I wasn't raised over there. The next time I'm in New York, the book will be in my subconsciousness and I can't wait to observe nuances of the infrastructures, parks, housing throughout the city.
I've read my fair share of books throughout the years, but "The Power Broker" will always stay with me because once again, it is excellent.
4 people found this helpful