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cover of episode Robert Caro on the Making of “The Power Broker”

Robert Caro on the Making of “The Power Broker”

2024/7/5
logo of podcast The New Yorker Radio Hour

The New Yorker Radio Hour
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David Remnick: 本访谈探讨了罗伯特·莫西斯在纽约市的影响，他虽然从未当选公职，却拥有巨大的权力，改变了城市的海岸线和公共建设的面貌。卡罗的《权力经纪人》一书详细记述了莫西斯的权力上升过程，并探讨了其权力来源。 Robert Caro: 我早期的记者生涯与政治机器密切相关，但目睹不公正事件后，我转向了更有社会意义的报道。对莫西斯权力的研究始于对一座桥梁项目的报道，我意识到莫西斯未经选举却拥有巨大权力，这促使我开始研究其权力来源。莫西斯及其团队试图阻止我进行采访，但我采用了一种策略，从与莫西斯关系较远的人开始采访，逐渐接近莫西斯本人。莫西斯最初的动机是实现自己的梦想，但随着权力的增长，他的目标也发生了转变，最终对城市造成了破坏。在写作过程中，我逐渐意识到需要关注权力对无权者造成的影响，最终的结论是：为什么他们不感激呢？ Robert Caro: 我的写作过程注重缓慢和细致，这与我早期的新闻记者生涯形成对比。反复访谈能够帮助我获得更深入的信息，即使受访者感到不耐烦，我也会坚持下去。通过将林登·约翰逊的弟弟带到他们童年居住的房屋复制品中，我获得了关键信息，揭示了约翰逊不为人知的一面。

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Fifty years ago, in July, 1974, The New Yorker began publishing a lengthy excerpt of Robert Caro’s “The Power Broker.” When the book appeared, it ran more than twelve hundred pages and won a Pulitzer Prize. In vivid, astonishing detail, it shows how a city planner named Robert Moses gained power over New York City that dwarfed that of any mayor or governor, and radically changed the city. “The Power Broker” became a landmark of political reporting and biography, and made Caro one of the most celebrated writers in America. David Remnick sat down with Caro at the McCarter Theatre, in Princeton, New Jersey, in 2019, when “Working”—a collection of short pieces about Caro’s methods—had been published. Their discussion encompassed Caro’s early years as a newspaper reporter, his interviewing techniques, and his determination to tackle huge projects, including his chronicle of the life of Lyndon B. Johnson, four volumes of which have been published to date.

*This segment originally aired on June 18, 2019. *