Robert Caro Will Discuss THE POWER BROKER at 92Y

Pulitzer Prize-winning biographer Robert Caro will visit 92NY's Unterberg Poetry Center on November 21 at 7 pm to discuss the art of biography on the 50th anniversary of his monumental first book, The Power Broker. Acclaimed author Stacey Schiff is the moderator. 

The event will open with Emmy Award-winning actor Bryan Cranston reading from The Power Broker. Cranston starred as Lyndon B. Johnson in the historical play, All The Way, and he prepared for the role by reading Caro's biography of Johnson, Master of the Senate.

Robert Caro's The Power Broker was an instant classic of political biography and narrative prose. Told at the scale of an epic, following the political rise and fall of Robert Moses, it unveils the shocking story behind the man who built — and nearly destroyed — modern New York.

Exhaustively researched, unflinchingly reported, masterfully composed, it changed the way readers interpreted political power, shedding new light on the nature of cities — profoundly impacting the work of journalists, city leaders, and American presidents. It also changed American literature and popular culture, influencing a wide range of writers and artists.

In this special event, hear Caro and Schiff discuss the making of a literary masterpiece — his meticulous and singular approach to biography, how Robert Moses’ influence on the workings of the city is felt in New York to this day, the writers who shaped his prose and taught him how to tell a story, how he taught historians and journalists to think of their work as literature, and more.