Stanley Brown on The New York Historical’s Exhibition, Robert Caro’s The Power Broker at 50

The OLLI Distinguished Speakers Series presents

 Stanley Brown on The New York Historical’s Exhibition, Robert Caro’s The Power Broker at 50.

Thursday, September 4, 2025 at 7:00 p.m. ET

Online via Zoom

Robert Caro's Pulitzer prize winning biography of Robert Moses, The Power Broker:  Robert Moses and the Fall of New York is as relevant today as when it was published in 1974 .  Robert Moses never held elective office and in fact ran a disastrous campaign for Governor of New York.  Yet he is probably the most powerful politician in the history of that state who molded the state, for better or worse, according to his vision.  The New York Historical's exhibition, through contemporary  photographs, Caro manuscripts, notes, letters and other documents drawn from the Robert A. Carol Archives acquired in 2019, will be presented in this zoom webinar.  Using those documents, the webinar will examine not only how Moses obtained, used and manipulated his power to shape New York but how Caro was able to write the biography of a man who for decades has blocked every attempt to tell Moses' real story.  David Halberstem called The Power Broker "surely the greatest book ever written about a city" and anyone who is interested in how cities and towns are shaped and the consequences of government decisions should read it.  

The webinar will be presented by Stanley Brown, a docent at The New York Historical who has led numerous groups through the exhibition, including city planners, journalists and people interested in this great book.  He is a former partner and Senior Counsel Emeritus at Hogan Lovells, a global law firm,  and has both represented and sued cities in connection with development issues.

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Ticket information:

Admission is $10 for OLLI at BCC members and $15 for the general public.

Admission is free for students, staff and faculty from Berkshire Community College, MCLA, and Williams; youth 17 and under, and those holding WIC, EBT/SNAP, or ConnectorCare cards.