If you loved
The Power Broker
Robert A. Caro · Book · 1975
What hooked you in The Power Broker was the way you witnessed how singular, unchecked ambition fundamentally reshapes the world around it.
Films on the same thread
Spotlight
Tom McCarthy · Film · 2015
Like The Power Broker, this film tracks the methodical work of investigative journalists as they peel back layers of institutional rot to reveal how systemic power enables widespread human suffering.
Big Fish
Tim Burton · Film · 2003
While The Power Broker examines the cold reality of urban planning, this story explores the myth-making process, mirroring how men construct their own legacies through elaborate, often unreliable, personal narratives.
The Ten Commandments
Cecil B. DeMille · Film · 1956
This epic shares the grand scale of The Power Broker, focusing on a man named Moses whose singular vision and drive for control dictate the destiny of an entire population.
Citizen Kane
Orson Welles · Film · 1941
Much like the subject of The Power Broker, this film serves as a definitive character study on the corruption of the soul that inevitably accompanies the absolute accumulation of power.
Series on the same thread
Roots
Alex Haley · Series · 1977
This saga mirrors the historical depth found in The Power Broker, documenting how individual lives are inextricably bound to the broader, often oppressive, political and social structures of their era.
The Crown
Peter Morgan · Series · 2016
The Power Broker captures the machinery of influence, and this series offers a similar look at the private pressures and political maneuvering that define the exercise of supreme authority.
Billions
Andrew Ross Sorkin · Series · 2016
Set in the same landscape as The Power Broker, this drama dramatizes the high-stakes, ruthless competition between individuals who believe they are entitled to command the city's financial destiny.
Tokyo Vice
J.T. Rogers · Series · 2022
This series shares the journalistic rigor of The Power Broker, chronicling the dangerous, obsessive pursuit of truth against a backdrop of deeply entrenched, corrupt urban power structures and hidden agendas.
Podcasts on the same thread
The School of Greatness
Lewis Howes · Podcast · 2026
If you appreciated the biographical intensity of The Power Broker, these interviews provide a contemporary perspective on the mindsets and strategies utilized by individuals who seek to exert significant influence.
HISTORY This Week
The HISTORY® Channel | Back Pocket Studios · Podcast · 2026
This podcast echoes the narrative ambition of The Power Broker by focusing on how specific, often overlooked, historical decisions ripple outward to permanently alter the course of our collective society.
Keep exploring
Common questions
How long is the biography The Power Broker?
The Power Broker is a monumental work that spans over 1,200 pages. As a comprehensive biography of Robert Moses, it details his life and his profound influence on the infrastructure and urban development of twentieth-century New York.
Is The Power Broker considered a significant work of literature?
Yes, The Power Broker is widely recognized as a modern American classic. It was awarded the Pulitzer Prize and was named one of the hundred greatest books of the twentieth century by the Modern Library.
What is the primary subject of The Power Broker?
The Power Broker focuses on the life of Robert Moses. The book examines his incredible accumulation of political power and explores the ways in which his decisions and projects shaped and mis-shaped the city of New York throughout the twentieth century.
Should I read The Power Broker to understand New York history?
Reading The Power Broker provides a deep look into the history of New York through the actions of Robert Moses. The book reveals previously unknown details about how power was exercised to transform the city, making it a definitive text on the subject.