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The Power Broker Robert Moses and the Fall of New York
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- Hardcover
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Sprache:Englisch
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Verlag:Random House LLC US
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Beschreibung
Produktdetails
Verkaufsrang
7493
Einband
Taschenbuch
Erscheinungsdatum
01.07.1975
Abbildungen
ILLUSTRATIONS THROUGHOUT
Verlag
Random House LLC USSeitenzahl
1344
Maße (L/B/H)
22,9/15,1/6 cm
Gewicht
1972 g
Sprache
Englisch
ISBN
978-0-394-72024-1
PULITZER PRIZE WINNER • A modern American classic, this huge and galvanizing biography of Robert Moses reveals not only the saga of one man’s incredible accumulation of power but the story of his shaping (and mis-shaping) of twentieth-century New York.
One of the Modern Library’s hundred greatest books of the twentieth century, Robert Caro's monumental book makes public what few outsiders knew: that Robert Moses was the single most powerful man of his time in the City and in the State of New York. And in telling the Moses story, Caro both opens up to an unprecedented degree the way in which politics really happens—the way things really get done in America's City Halls and Statehouses—and brings to light a bonanza of vital information about such national figures as Alfred E. Smith and Franklin D. Roosevelt (and the genesis of their blood feud), about Fiorello La Guardia, John V. Lindsay and Nelson Rockefeller.
But The Power Broker is first and foremost a brilliant multidimensional portrait of a man—an extraordinary man who, denied power within the normal framework of the democratic process, stepped outside that framework to grasp power sufficient to shape a great city and to hold sway over the very texture of millions of lives. We see how Moses began: the handsome, intellectual young heir to the world of Our Crowd, an idealist. How, rebuffed by the entrenched political establishment, he fought for the power to accomplish his ideals. How he first created a miraculous flowering of parks and parkways, playlands and beaches—and then ultimately brought down on the city the smog-choked aridity of our urban landscape, the endless miles of (never sufficient) highway, the hopeless sprawl of Long Island, the massive failures of public housing, and countless other barriers to humane living. How, inevitably, the accumulation of power became an end in itself.
Moses built an empire and lived like an emperor. He was held in fear—his dossiers could disgorge the dark secret of anyone who opposed him. He was, he claimed, above politics, above deals; and through decade after decade, the newspapers and the public believed. Meanwhile, he was developing his public authorities into a fourth branch of government known as "Triborough"—a government whose records were closed to the public, whose policies and plans were decided not by voters or elected officials but solely by Moses—an immense economic force directing pressure on labor unions, on banks, on all the city's political and economic institutions, and on the press, and on the Church. He doled out millions of dollars' worth of legal fees, insurance commissions, lucrative contracts on the basis of who could best pay him back in the only coin he coveted: power. He dominated the politics and politicians of his time—without ever having been elected to any office. He was, in essence, above our democratic system.
Robert Moses held power in the state for 44 years, through the governorships of Smith, Roosevelt, Lehman, Dewey, Harriman and Rockefeller, and in the city for 34 years, through the mayoralties of La Guardia, O'Dwyer, Impellitteri, Wagner and Lindsay, He personally conceived and carried through public works costing 27 billion dollars—he was undoubtedly America's greatest builder.
This is how he built and dominated New York—before, finally, he was stripped of his reputation (by the press) and his power (by Nelson Rockefeller). But his work, and his will, had been done.
One of the Modern Library’s hundred greatest books of the twentieth century, Robert Caro's monumental book makes public what few outsiders knew: that Robert Moses was the single most powerful man of his time in the City and in the State of New York. And in telling the Moses story, Caro both opens up to an unprecedented degree the way in which politics really happens—the way things really get done in America's City Halls and Statehouses—and brings to light a bonanza of vital information about such national figures as Alfred E. Smith and Franklin D. Roosevelt (and the genesis of their blood feud), about Fiorello La Guardia, John V. Lindsay and Nelson Rockefeller.
But The Power Broker is first and foremost a brilliant multidimensional portrait of a man—an extraordinary man who, denied power within the normal framework of the democratic process, stepped outside that framework to grasp power sufficient to shape a great city and to hold sway over the very texture of millions of lives. We see how Moses began: the handsome, intellectual young heir to the world of Our Crowd, an idealist. How, rebuffed by the entrenched political establishment, he fought for the power to accomplish his ideals. How he first created a miraculous flowering of parks and parkways, playlands and beaches—and then ultimately brought down on the city the smog-choked aridity of our urban landscape, the endless miles of (never sufficient) highway, the hopeless sprawl of Long Island, the massive failures of public housing, and countless other barriers to humane living. How, inevitably, the accumulation of power became an end in itself.
Moses built an empire and lived like an emperor. He was held in fear—his dossiers could disgorge the dark secret of anyone who opposed him. He was, he claimed, above politics, above deals; and through decade after decade, the newspapers and the public believed. Meanwhile, he was developing his public authorities into a fourth branch of government known as "Triborough"—a government whose records were closed to the public, whose policies and plans were decided not by voters or elected officials but solely by Moses—an immense economic force directing pressure on labor unions, on banks, on all the city's political and economic institutions, and on the press, and on the Church. He doled out millions of dollars' worth of legal fees, insurance commissions, lucrative contracts on the basis of who could best pay him back in the only coin he coveted: power. He dominated the politics and politicians of his time—without ever having been elected to any office. He was, in essence, above our democratic system.
Robert Moses held power in the state for 44 years, through the governorships of Smith, Roosevelt, Lehman, Dewey, Harriman and Rockefeller, and in the city for 34 years, through the mayoralties of La Guardia, O'Dwyer, Impellitteri, Wagner and Lindsay, He personally conceived and carried through public works costing 27 billion dollars—he was undoubtedly America's greatest builder.
This is how he built and dominated New York—before, finally, he was stripped of his reputation (by the press) and his power (by Nelson Rockefeller). But his work, and his will, had been done.
Kundinnen und Kunden meinen
Der größte Biograph der Moderne
Bewertung am 22.07.2023
Bewertungsnummer: 1985204
Bewertet: Buch (Taschenbuch)
Caro schreibt monumentale Biographien, von denen diese seine beste ist. Er geht in die Tiefe und setzt sich mit jedem Aspekt des Lebens und Wirkens von Robert Moses auseinander, und wie dieser New York prägte.
Nicht ganz einfach, aber der Mühe wert
Bewertung am 17.07.2025
Bewertungsnummer: 2542607
Bewertet: eBook (ePUB)
Die Geschichten vieler einzelner Menschen, und einiger Plätze, in einem Buch. Caro beschreibt Robert Moses und die Zeiten und Orte, in denen er lebte, in all ihrer Komplexität. Es gibt sowohl detaillierte Beschreibungen von dem, was Moses beeindruckend machte, als auch von dem, was an ihm ganz und gar nicht beeindruckend war.
Die Themen des Buches reichen von persönlichen Lebensgeschichten verschiedener historischer Figuren und intensiven zwischenmenschlichen Dramen über Verkehrs- und Stadtplanung, Macht und ihre Folgen und die Frage, zu welchem Ausmaß moderne Gesellschaften sich um das Auto drehen sollten, bis hin zu systematischer rassistischer Diskriminierung und Klassendiskriminierung. Manchmal wird aus der Sichtweise von Leuten, die zum berüchtigten politischen Netzwerk Tammany Hall gehörten, geschrieben, und manchmal aus der Sichtweise von Leuten, die vom Kampf gegen Tammany Hall geprägt waren. Manchmal wird aus der Sichtweise von Moses und den Leuten um ihn herum geschrieben, und manchmal aus der Sichtweise von Leuten, die mit den Folgen seiner Entscheidungen leben mussten.
Aus deutscher Sicht ist ganz interessant, dass das Buch zeigt, dass es einige Dinge, die viele Menschen hier wohl als typisch deutsch ansehen, wie zum Beispiel Behördenwirrwarrr, verworrene Paragraphen, Streit um Bauprojekte oder Bebauungspläne, oder städtische Beauftragte für dieses und jenes, durchaus auch in den USA gibt.
Fortgeschrittene Englischkenntnisse sollte man schon mitbringen.
Inhaltswarnung beziehungsweise Stilwarnung: wenn der Autor über Schwarze spricht, benutzt er in diesem Buch durchgängig ein englisches Wort, dass Mitte des 20. Jahrhunderts noch als höflich galt, heute aber allgemein als rassistisch angesehen wird.
Leuten, die körperlich eher zart gebaut sind und die einen Tolino haben, würde ich schon die eBook-Ausgabe empfehlen. Die Papierausgabe ist wirklich sehr groß und schwer.
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