The Power Broker: Robert Moses and the Fall of New York

“The whole life of Robert Moses, in fact, has been a drama of the interplay of power and personality.”

In the introduction to The Power Broker, Caro carefully positions the rise and fall of Moses as a dramatic arc. The book charts how Moses rises to the top of society, reshapes a city in his image, and is then brought down by his ego. The hubristic nature of Moses, in which his arrogance foreshadows his downfall, is likened to the literature that Moses loves so much. As a student of drama, his failure to recognize his hubris is an ironic element of his story.

“Yet, despite their efforts to make clear the difference between themselves and the newcomers, they realized that non-Jews were lumping them all together, taking the behavior of the newcomers as the stereotype by which they thought of all Jews.”

The older generations of Jewish Americans are horrified that their Christian neighbors would associate them with the poor immigrants who have recently arrived from Europe. Though the older generations view themselves as Americans, Christians will always consider them Jewish first and foremost. This highlights how antisemitism factors into social and racial dynamics, as some people never feel that Jewish people belong.

“Bob Moses was one applicant for whom a place was waiting, since his mother was a cousin of one of the Bureau’s trustees.”

Moses’s great plan for reforming the government involves subjecting every government employee to stringent tests to ensure that they are capable. When it comes to Moses himself securing a job, however, he relies on nepotism. Moses may be qualified for this job, but he benefits from family connections more than his interview or his resume.