ABSTRACT
The Power Broker (Caro, 1974) won a Pulitzer Prize as a biography of one of the most prolific and polarizing urban planners in American history, Robert Moses. Known as the “master builder,” his racist and elitist beliefs were evident in much of his work. With the support of the New York City Planning Commission, he publically resisted the move of black veterans into Stuyvesant Town, a Manhattan residential development complex created to house World War II veterans. In addition to these attempts to protect white privilege, he was known for large-scale construction projects that resulted in tremendous business development across the city, while slicing through neighborhoods with a disregard for local community boundaries. Although he was never elected to any public office, he once held twelve titles simultaneously, including New York City Parks Commissioner and Chairman of the Long Island State Park Commission. In his careful review of the history of Robert Moses, Joerges (1999) concludes, “He was an undemocratic scoundrel all right” (p. 418).
