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Robert Moses,
Single-Minded Genius
Edited by Joann P. Krieg
The Long Island Studies Institute at Hofstra University observed
the centennial of Robert Moses' birth with a conference that examined the
impact of his master planning on metropolitan New York. What emerged from
the conference was not only an assessment of the Moses impact, but a reevaluation
of the man and his work. Kenneth T. Jackson, Mellon Professor of History at
Columbia University, argued, as keynoter, that the view of Moses provided
in Robert Caro 's 1974 biography, The Power Broker: Robert Moses and the
Fall of New York, was too narrow. By placing him in a broader national
and regional framework, Jackson arrived at "a more temperate and moderate
view of Robert Moses."
Robert Moses: Single-Minded Genius makes the conference presentations
available and raises the question of whether or not Moses can truly be said
to have been single-mindedly in the business of power brokerage. The book
offers some new and revealing glimpses of Moses in roles other than that of
Master Builder. It also allows Moses a final rejoinder to his critics by including
the first publication of a talk in which he describes, in very personal terms,
the building of Jones Beach State Park.
Publications and Ordering
Information:
Robert Moses: Single-Minded Genius is also available in paperback.
The 230-page, indexed book is published for the Long Island Studies Institute
by Empire State Books/Heart of the Lakes Publishing. It is $18 in paperback
(ISBN 1-55787-04101) and $30 in hardcover (1-557-040-3; LC 88-34768). Schools,
bookstores, and libraries can purchase from the Long Island Studies Institute;
individuals may order from the publisher (Heart of the Lakes Publishing, Box
299, Interlaken, NY 14847, 607-532-4204, fax 607-532-4684, HLPbooks@aol.com;
or the Suffolk County Historical Society (300 West Main Street, Riverhead, NY
11901, histsoc@suffolk.lib.ny.us;
631-727-2881; fax (631) 727-3467). It is available for purchase at the Weathervane
Shop of the Suffolk County Historical Society in Riverhead (631-727-2881). Contact
the Institute for other locations where this and other Long Island books can
be purchased locally: Long Island Studies Institute, Hofstra University, West
Campus, 619 Fulton Avenue, Hempstead, NY 11549; 516-463-6411; fax (516) 463-6441;
e-mail: LISI@Hofstra.edu.
Contents:
Foreword, by Natalie A. Naylor
Robert Moses and his Legacy
Introduction, by Joann P. Krieg
Re-evaluating
the Power Broker:
Robert
Moses and the Planned Environment: A Re-evaluation, by Kenneth T. Jackson
Some Reflections on Moses and his Biographer, by Jameson W. Doig
Robert Caro's Moses: A Historian's Critique, by George Stevens
Robert Caro and His Critics, by Karen E. Markoe
Limiting
Power:
How
to Rein in and Reshape Robert Moses: the Port Authority's Varied Strategies,
by Jameson W. Doig
The Moses Model of Governance, by David C. Perry
Rockefeller, Moses, and the Bridge That Never Was, by Peter Bales
Queens
County:
From
Dump to Glory: Robert Moses and the Flushing Meadow Improvement, by Helen
A. Harrison
Robert Moses and the New Deal in Queens, by Jeffrey A. Kroessler
The Man Who Changed the Map of Queens: A Personal View, by David Oats
Photographic
Essay:
Open
Spaces . . . Public Places
Nassau
and Suffolk Counties:
The
Building of Jones Beach, by Robert Moses
Robert Moses: Long Island's First Environmentalist, by John A. Black
The Long Island Motor Parkway: Prelude to Robert Moses, by Robert Miller
Building the Roads to Greatness: Robert Moses and Long Island's State Parkways,
by J. Lance Mallamo
An Inside View of Jones Beach, by Peter L. Kramer
Robert Moses as Hofstra Trustee, 1943-1956: Potent Preeminence to Petty Politics,
by Natalie A. Naylor
The
Moses Design:
The
Rustic and the Sophisticated in Park Design: The Moses Syle vs. the CCC Design,
by Frank B. Burggraf and Karen Rollet
The Best Laid Plans: Robert Moses and the Making of Metroland, by Mollie Keller
The Public Works of Aymar Embury II in New York City and Long Island, by Peter
S. Kaufman
Excerpts
from Reviews:
"Robert Moses is
a welcome reappraisal of New York's legendary master builder. The book evolved
from a 1988 conference held at Hofstra University on Long Island to mark the
centennial of his birth. When one stops to consider the impact on Long Island
of his bridges, parkways, beaches, and parks, the setting for this lively conference
was indeed appropriate. . . . In his masterful keynote address, 'Robert Moses
and the Planned Environment: A Re Evaluation,' Kenneth T. Jackson . . . criticized
Robert Caro (The Power Broker, 1974), for failing 'to put Moses into
a broad national context.' In a few well-written pages, Jackson answers Caro's
charges concerning Moses'. . . . 'On the whole Robert Moses is a welcome
addition to the revisionist historiographical literature on urban planning."
--Marilyn E. Weigold, Pace University Journal of American History 77
(Sept. 1990): 734.
"The selections range from open
praise for Moses to iconoclastic attacks on the myth of Moses as Master Builder.
However, several specific studies and mixed reviews of Caro and his subject
make up the bulk of the contents.
"In addition to its fascinating subject and the scrutiny the contributors give
to Caro's book, this collection can serve as a wonderful confluence of scholarship
and historiographic methods in the urban historian's perception of a single,
albeit, unusual subject.
"Although the subtitle tends to tilt the balance toward pro-Moses thinking,
most readers will emerge with mixed feelings themselves and a wealth of information
about the transformation of modern America in recent times." --Paul Ettenson,
Glen Cove Library, Academic Library Book Review 4 (October 1989): 19.
"The collection should be required
reading for those interested in the works of Robert Moses and the development
of Long Island. If not the definitive statement, it is a valuable addition to
the literature, and may be the 'starting gun' for a new generation of serious
historical scholarship in the work and impact of Robert Moses on the development
of the metropolitan region of New York." --Lee E. Koppelman, Stony Brook University
Long Island Historical Journal 2 (Spring 1990): 280.
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