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book1974

The Power Broker

Disciplines:
power
biography
usa/new york
urban

Summary

Robert Caro's 1974 biography of Robert Moses — the unelected New York City parks commissioner who shaped the city's physical form through 44 years of power — Pulitzer Prize — the greatest American political biography and one of the greatest works of American nonfiction.

Core Contribution

Creates the anatomy of unelected power — The Power Broker's account of how Robert Moses accumulated and wielded power (through public authorities, bond covenants, and political timing) is the most complete analysis of how unelected officials shape democratic societies; it is the primary text in the 'how power actually works' genre.

Historical Influences

Primary sources New York urban history

Intellectual Lineage

Robert Caro Alfred A. Knopf Pulitzer Prize 1,336 pages

Allied Works

The Path to Power Robert Moses and the Modern City Jane Jacobs's The Death and Life of Great American Cities

Contemporaries & Peers

No recorded contemporaries.

Minds Influenced

Political biography Urban policy

Intellectual Posterity

The Power Broker Robert Moses Power brokerThe Working

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