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Non-Fiction
Related: About this forumThere's a petition to get Robert A. Caro's "The Power Broker" published in its uncut, 1,050,000 word glory. Sign here.
https://actionnetwork.org/petitions/publish-the-powerbroker-uncutn 1974, almost exactly 50 years ago, Robert Caro submitted the final, fully edited 1,050,000 word manuscript of The Power Broker: Robert Moses and the Fall of New York. Only a few people have ever read that full version. A full 300,000 words were cut to fit the book into a single volume.
Says Caro,"To this day, when someone says: Theres hardly a mention of Jane Jacobs, I think, but I wrote a lot about her. Every time Im asked about that, I have this sick feeling."
It's missing a whole chapter devoted to Jacobs, and only Caro knows how many other richly reported details we're missing from the current 1,246 page version.
This petition is a request from Caro's devoted fans and ardent readers: let us read the full, uncut version of this still relevant {an understatement}, brilliant work!
*************************
To: Alfred A. Knopf, Knopf Doubleday Publishing Group and Penguin Random House LLC
From: [Your Name]
As devoted fans and ardent readers of Robert Caro, we believe we deserve a chance to read the full, uncut masterpiece that is The Power Broker: Robert Moses and the Fall of New York.
There are thousands of us eager to read the completed 1,050,000 manuscript that still resides in Robert Caro's papers. This is the 50th anniversary of this mighty work, a perfect time to announce the upcoming release of the director's cut.
Make it so!
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There's a petition to get Robert A. Caro's "The Power Broker" published in its uncut, 1,050,000 word glory. Sign here. (Original Post)
eppur_se_muova
Aug 2
OP
I'll sign it as I read the book years ago. I worked at Newsday in the '80s and '90s...
brush
Aug 2
#1
The LBJ series is amazing. Fifth volume is still in the works; I hope he lives to finish it.
eppur_se_muova
Aug 2
#2
brush
(61,018 posts)1. I'll sign it as I read the book years ago. I worked at Newsday in the '80s and '90s...
in the editorial art department. Robert Caro worked there too for a few years as an investigative reporter. The book, still long, is a page turner and hard to put down.
I vaguely remember seeing Robert Caro in the hallways at Newsday before the he became famous. Guess he was researching the book then.
One quote of his on Robert Moses I remember...may have been to the staff, and I'm paraphrasing: "Absolute power not only corrupts, it also reveals."
His book on LBJ is equally fascinating.
eppur_se_muova
(39,774 posts)2. The LBJ series is amazing. Fifth volume is still in the works; I hope he lives to finish it.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Years_of_Lyndon_Johnson#Book_Five
He said he'd arrange for it to be published posthumously, even incomplete, if not.
He said he'd arrange for it to be published posthumously, even incomplete, if not.
brush
(61,018 posts)3. Fantastic. So rich with detail, such a great writer.
txwhitedove
(4,198 posts)4. I'm in. Found a published edition at my library. Caro wrote "Means of Ascent", one of my favorite books.