Simply completed The Energy Dealer by Robert Caro: It is practically 1,200 pages, however I might’ve gladly learn one other 1,200.
This was one of the best guide I’ve ever learn. Robert Caro, by means of painstaking analysis and interviews (together with 7 with Robert Moses himself), has fantastically advised the extremely layered, advanced, and spectacular (for higher or worse) life and profession of Robert Moses. The best way he writes is enthralling, partaking, and riveting. There are occasions I remind myself that the occasions on this guide ACTUALLY occurred, which thus resulted in me being saddened (is together with his destruction of Sundown Park or East Tremont) or elated (Nelson Rockefeller!!). I swear this learn like a fiction novel.
I completed the guide in Washington Sq. Park (I stay in Brooklyn), which I felt was one of the becoming places to complete it. Afterwards I simply sat there, trying on the fountain, the arch, all of the individuals congregating in each attain of this historic park (it is usually commencement week at NYU so it was particularly packed) and simply contemplated what I learn…all the pieces Robert Moses constructed, all the pieces he destroyed, the individuals who labored tirelessly to carry him down, and the ultimate phrases of the guide.
This wasn’t solely a biography. It’s a case research on absolute energy, on the way it’s constructed, the way it’s wielded, and at last taken away. In regards to the individuals it is used on. In regards to the individuals who revenue from it. From the individuals who lose all the pieces from it. And the kind of individuals who crave it. Whether or not you reside in NYC, NYS, or anyplace on the earth, that is an extremely essential guide. Robert Caro deserves each reward on the earth for this guide.
This guide has completely impacted my life. It has pulled again extra layers on corruption and energy than I even knew existed, and I’ll NEVER take a look at NYC, my dwelling which I like so dearly, the identical ever once more.
And, now, onwards to LBJ!
Comments ( 19 )
I might be wrong but I think the character played by Alec Baldwin in Motherless Brooklyn was meant to be Robert Moses… anyway – that is one of those books I’d love to eventually read… you’ve inspired me. Glad you finished it at such an iconic place. Next time finish a book at the reading room of the 42nd street NYPL!
Thank you for sharing! This is on my tbr list, but given its size, I keep putting it off.
I loved it. Kudos for actually reading it, I listened to it.
It’s a great read.
It might have been my favorite read from last year. I’m also curious about his LBJ book, but I’m working through some other books first.
Incredible book and writing. I’m still about 300 pages from the end, but I am in awe of the writing, the presentation, the progression of events and then actual impacts (along with the “what ifs”). I would dearly love some type of follow-up after the book’s end (I believe 1974 but I haven’t gotten to the end yet). It does take time but well worth it. I got my degree in political science and history and I have learned so much from this book.
I try to read a big, thick classic book every year, and I read The Power Broker a few years ago. It’s amazing. Currently ranking it as the best book I’ve ever read despite largely being a fiction guy
Conan O’ Brien had a good interview with him on his podcast.
Nice description, I read that book back in the early 1990s when I worked at the MTA (Metropolitan Transportation Authority) which was created after Moses’s beloved TBTA (Tri Borough Bridge and Tunnel Authority, his cash cow) was taken away from his control, and combined into MTA along with NYCTA (subways + buses), LIRR (Long Island RR – commuters trains east), MetroNorth (commuter trains north), and SIRTOA (Staten Islands trains).
Apparently his editor made him cut it down by a third. Such a crime! I would love for him to publish the full manuscript… We missed the battle with Jane Jacobs, and it doesn’t even mention the time Moses [flooded a native reservation](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tuscarora_Reservation) to make his eponymous [Niagara Falls power plant](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Robert_Moses_Niagara_Power_Plant).
Great book. Felt the biographer had an awe/disgust relationship towards Moses. It also has a weird detail in common with a Musk bio with a similar tone: both followed their subject into the bathroom and felt compelled to report on their peeing habits
You should watch Turn Every Page! Absolutely fascinating documentary about Robert Caro and Robert Gottlieb and how they work together.
I read the LBJ series first and then tried and set aside the Moses book but was perhaps spoiled by the magnificence I’d been embedded within for the previous six months.
Okay, this post sold me, I have to read this. What a glowing review, you really have a way with words!
I can’t tell, did the OP like it? /s
Awesome post, thanks for sharing! Learned a lot from it. Keep up the good work on -{VariableTitle}-!
Totally agreed! This is an incredible book
Is it still a worthwhile read if I’ve never been to new york, and know very little about the area?
>And, now, onwards to LBJ!
Enjoy it. All other history books are ruined afterwards. Master of the Senate is the greatest historical writing I’ve ever read.