![]() For four decades he spent money on a scale that made city and state budgets look almost like statistical errors. The majesty and extent of his public works have no analogue anywhere in the world. Shielded from normal democratic accountability by independent agencies, working in almost total secrecy, sustained by a fawning press and generally grateful public, he wove a concrete web of parkways throughout the metropolitan area, soldered together the fractured boroughs of New York with bridges and tunnels, and surrounded the city with green parks and white beaches. Through the control of public authorities and commissions he exercised unprecedented influence over the physical development of the entire state and especially its metropolis. For over 40 years he wielded more influence and naked power than any governor or mayor: indeed, in the area of public works, more than all of them combined. More than any other single man, Robert Moses laid his hand on New York City and State. ![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() “The Power Broker: Robert Moses and the Fall of New York” has been launched with almost unparalleled fanfare, but even if it had been slipped quietly into the bookstores, its importance would have been quickly recognized, for it is the first extensive and comprehensive critique of one of the most powerful men of this-or any other-century. ![]()
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