The power broker: Robert Moses and the fall of New York
1974
- urban renewal
- new york (n.y.), history
- moses, robert, 1888-1981
- city planning, united states
- history
- politics and government
- moses, robert , 1888-1981
- group processes
- persuasive communication
- religion and psychology
The story
Discusses the illusion that is a democracy by pointing out what real power looks like and where it comes from.
What it’s like
Dense, patient, and expansive, with the texture of archival research: long paragraphs stacked with documented detail, precise street names, budget figures, and the slow accumulation of who signed what and when. The prose is plain and assured rather than lyrical, but it builds scenes with a novelist's care, so a single meeting or a bulldozed neighborhood can carry the weight of a whole chapter. Its vibe is sober, absorbing and quietly indignant, the kind of book that suits a long winter evening with a lamp and a notebook, or a slow stretch of a long trip where you can settle into one thick volume. Pacing is deliberate and layered, circling back to revisit a power struggle from new angles until its stakes feel personal. The emotional register runs from clear-eyed admiration for relentless competence to a steady unease about what unaccountable authority does to ordinary people, while the arc of its central figure is a long, unflinching portrait of ambition hardening into control. Intensity is low on physical violence and gore, though it includes the human cost of displacement, political cruelty and the odd tense confrontation, all described without melodrama. Written for readers who enjoy history, urban studies, and political biography, and who want to understand how cities are really shaped.
More books like The power broker: Robert Moses and the fall of New York
Closest in mood, pacing and theme. Tell us why you loved The power broker: Robert Moses and the fall of New Yorkand we’ll explain which ones fit you.
