The Power Broker
The Power Broker by Robert Caroby Robert A. Caro
Shares rank 30 of 152 nonfiction books by recommenders
People recommend it as a classic, famous non-fiction book about Robert Moses, and a long-time Hacker News favorite. No recurring criticism appears in the quotes.
People recommend it as a classic, famous non-fiction book about Robert Moses, and a long-time Hacker News favorite. No recurring criticism appears in the quotes.
7 people gave an opinion
- recommend it
- 7
- criticize it
- 0
- approval share
- 100%
Recommended in 5 of 13 months
- November 2025: not recommended
- December 2025: recommended
- January 2026: not recommended
- February 2026: recommended
- March 2026: not recommended
- April 2026: recommended
- May 2026: not recommended
- June 2026: not recommended
- July 2026: not recommended
- August 2026: not recommended
- September 2026: recommended
- October 2026: recommended
- November 2026: not recommended (month in progress)
Why it doesn’t carry the badge
- 7 people recommend itNeeds 10 or more, not met.
- Nobody criticizes itNeeds 2 to 1 or better, met.
- Recommended in 5 of 13 monthsNeeds 4 or more, met.
The same three rules apply to every product, and the badge can’t be bought. How the badge works
What people say about it
The reasons people give, with the number of comments that give each one. Open a reason to read what they said.
Why people recommend it
Each mark is one comment
Classic, famous book about Robert Moses
“a classic about Robert Moses who basically built half of New York”
Comment from 19 Feb 2026 in “Mark Zuckerberg overruled 18 wellbeing experts to keep beauty filters on Insta” “I recommend the books of Robert Caro about Robert Moses.”
Comment from 30 Apr 2026 in “Joby Kicks Off NYC Electric Air Taxi Demos with Historic JFK Flight” “The Power Broker is of course Caro's most famous book”
Comment from 25 Oct 2026 in “Washing machines took decades to catch on” Long-time favorite non-fiction series
“Caro's The Power Broker has been a HN favorite ever since Aaron Swartz recommended it”
Comment from 7 Dec 2025 in “The past was not that cute” “It's the best non-fiction series I've ever read and I almost exclusively read NF.”
Comment from 1 Oct 2026 in “Ask HN: What are you reading?”
Other nonfiction books people recommend
The four most recommended other nonfiction books, with the same counts for each, so you can compare like for like. The tick on each bar marks the 2 to 1 line the badge needs.
| Product | Recommend | Criticize | Approval | Months | Owned | Badge |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| The Cuckoo's Eggby Clifford Stoll | 40 | 0 | 100% | 8 | — | Approved |
| Amusing Ourselves to Deathby Neil Postman | 36 | 0 | 100% | 9 | 1 yr3 owners | Approved |
| The Anxious Generationby Jonathan Haidt | 24 | 12 | 67% | 10 | — | Approved |
| Bullshit Jobsby David Graeber | 20 | 12 | 63% | 8 | — | — |
| The Power Brokerby Robert A. CaroThis page | 7 | 0 | 100% | 5 | — | — |
What people said
6 of the 7 comments that mention it, newest first. Each links to the original comment.
“The Power Broker is of course Caro's most famous book”
“It's the best non-fiction series I've ever read and I almost exclusively read NF.”
“Caro's storytelling moves it along so well.”
“I recommend the books of Robert Caro about Robert Moses.”
“a classic about Robert Moses who basically built half of New York”
“Caro's The Power Broker has been a HN favorite ever since Aaron Swartz recommended it”
Counts come from 1,795,640 Hacker News comments, November 2025 to November 2026. How we count. Report a mistake.