I spent my summer maternity leave reading The Power Broker (and taking care of the baby!). I was glad to get to write about Caro’s masterpiece for Word on Fire.
As Moses makes himself sovereign over parks, power plants, bridges, and housing, he unmakes his ability to steward what he has seized. He becomes both figuratively and literally deaf to the world. As his hearing deteriorates, he refuses to make any acknowledgement of his infirmity, and answers imagined questions rather than slow down to hear what is being said to him. As he circles the city in the back of his chauffeured car, he is unaware of how his multiplying roads have not solved New York City’s traffic snarls. There is a stark contrast between the imaginative empathy he had for the mother at the beach and his cultivated indifference to New York’s other commuters.
What good is the power he successfully guarded for so many years when Moses loses his ability to apply it to the world as it actually is? When Moses is finally forced out, he is in agony in retirement. He draws up plans and makes calls to politicians that are never returned. He cannot abide living with his energy turned in on itself, with his days devoid of meetings and decisions.