Robert Caro’s monumental biography of Robert Moses, The Power Broker, turns 50 this year. Subtitled “Robert Moses and the Fall of New York,” this massive work of scholarship has influenced generations of urban planners and New York historians. But is it time to reevaluate Moses’s role as the villain of the piece? "When you operate in an overbuilt metropolis," Moses once remarked, "you have to hack your way with a meat ax.” And certainly those who were displaced by the Cross-Bronx Expressway or had their apartments razed for public housing might not find much to praise in Moses’s work. But what about Lincoln Center or Jones Beach or the 1964 World Fair? How do we square Moses the destroyer with Moses the creator?

This talk will examine an array of core Robert Moses projects from the unrealized (such as LOMEX) to the petty (the razing of the Casino in Central Park) to the triumphant (11 olympic-sized pools opened during the Depression) in search of  the ups, down, pros, and cons of this most influential of New Yorkers.

A recording of the talk will be emailed to all registrants approximately one day after the presentation.

Each ticket covers one (1) registered device. You do not need to watch the lecture as it is happening if that's inconvenient for you -- approxmately 24 hours after the talk, a link will be emailed to all registered participants so that you can watch the talk at your leisure on Vimeo. Your registration will appear on your credit card statement as “Michelle Nevius.”