It’s About Power

I’m almost finished with The Passage of Power. I’m sure I’ll have more to say but, why wait? Here’s a really good interview with Robert Caro from The Guardian. In it, he dispels the illusion that his books are biographies by talking about his first book on Robert Moses.

Robert Caro: a life with LBJ and the pursuit of power

""I started writing “The Power Broker” because I was a reporter and I felt I wasn't explaining how power worked, urban power in New York City. Neither did anybody else. There was nothing to read on it. Here was this guy who was never elected to anything and he had more power than politicians, so I started that book as an examination of that. I was trying to find out where he got his power and how he used it to shape New York. There's not enough understanding of the realities of power. In a democracy, supposedly we hold power by what we do at the ballot box, so therefore the more we know about political power the better our choices should be and the better, in theory, our democracy should be.""

It’s about power -- and then the men that wield it.

The Power Broker
The Path to Power
The Passage of Power

I recommend you read them all.

Don Brown
June 11, 2012