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

Key Points:

• Unelected Power: How Robert Moses, who never won an election, shaped New York more than any mayor or governor for 44 years.
• Mechanisms of Control: Detailed examination of how Moses accumulated and maintained power through authorities, bonds, and bureaucratic maneuvering.
• Urban Destruction: The human cost of Moses’s projects—neighborhoods destroyed, communities displaced, public transit neglected.
• Corruption of Idealism: Traces Moses’s transformation from progressive reformer to ruthless power broker.
• Masterwork of Research: Seven years of research, 1,336 pages—the gold standard for political biography.