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When Robert A. Caro's The Power Broker was first published 50 years ago, the book's release was met with great anticipation. Excerpts in The New Yorker gained lots of attention—including from the biography's subject, NYC government official Robert Moses, who described the deeply researched book as "venomous." Even so, it was impossible to predict whether a 700,000-word biography would resonate with readers.
The book quickly earned acclaim, winning the Pulitzer Prize and finding a home on bookshelves across America, especially among New Yorkers. Now, five decades later, the monumental work still resonates for its look at NYC’s past and the lessons it holds for our future. The book and its tenacious author are the subject of a new exhibit at New-York Historical Society Museum & Library titled “Robert Caro’s The Power Broker at 50." See it at the Upper West Side museum through February 2, 2025.
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In his 44-year career, Moses accrued more power and influence over New York’s public works than any other government official, mayor or governor—despite never being elected to public office. An emperor of sorts, Moses shaped New York’s political agenda and physical landscape, often at the expense of the poor and marginalized. His Cross-Bronx Expressway displaced 5,000 residents; in Jones Beach, he prioritized car access over mass transit, physically limiting the ways in which the city’s poor residents could visit the beach.
While working as young beat reporter at Newsday in the 1960s, Caro started to notice Moses' power over parks, roads, bridges and housing.
“You sit there and you think, ‘who is this guy?’” Caro said in remarks at the historical society this week. “Gradually it came to you, when you started to think about it, you said, ‘Well, he’s doing everything here.’ … And he’s never been elected to anything. Your first impulse to say, ‘how did this happen?’”
Your first impulse to say, 'how did this happen?'
Caro spent seven years studying that exact question. He left Newsday to explore the subject and was awarded a Nieman Fellowship at Harvard, a period of solitude which allowed him to reflect on Moses' power.
For seven years, Caro conducted rigorous research, conducting 522 interviews with people in Moses' orbit, as the government leader initially rebuffed interviews. Eventually, Caro discovered a cache of Parks Department carbon copies stored underneath the 79th Street Boat Basin. For months, Caro and his wife Ina pored through the files, bringing extra light bulbs to replace the ones that loyal Parks employees kept removing from the facility. In the exhibit, you'll get to see Caro's letters to sources, typed interview notes, archival documents and reporting files.
Eventually, after extensive research, Caro set about to writing. He worked with renowned editor Robert Gottlieb who helped him cut 350,000 words—a third of the manuscript—to reach the upper limit of what a book’s binding could hold together. Eventually, on September 16, 1974, The Power Broker was published. It became a bestseller and thrust Caro, a first-time author, into the spotlight.
In the years since, the book has remained a best-seller. Its characteristic red-and-white spine even got the spotlight amid the pandemic when having a visible copy of The Power Broker in one's Zoom background conveyed an air of political savvy and sophistication.
The book has influenced generations of journalists, politicians, city planners, and countless other readers who care about the civic life of our city.
"The Power Broker is a tremendous feat of reporting and narrative storytelling, and a work that continues to shape our understanding of New York City itself," Dr. Louise Mirrer, president and CEO of New-York Historical, said in a press release. "The book has influenced generations of journalists, politicians, city planners, and countless other readers who care about the civic life of our city. I hope visitors come away from this show with a greater understanding of the enormity of what Robert Caro’s monumental book meant when it was first published in 1974 and its continued relevance today."
If the exhibit inspires you to read (or re-read) The Power Broker, the museum's gift shop delivers with mugs reading "I Finished The Power Broker."
We'll leave you with the words of Caro himself: "The story of Robert Moses is the story of New York."