Selected by Frank H. McCourt Jr., the author of ‘Our Biggest Fight: Reclaiming Liberty, Humanity, and Dignity in the Digital Age.’
The Power Broker
By Robert Caro (1974)
1. In “The Power Broker,” Robert Caro uses the life of Robert Moses to illustrate how negotiation works, how power can shift behind the scenes and how big projects get done. Moses (1888-1981) was a New York City public official who built landmarks such as Lincoln Center as well as infrastructure including the Brooklyn-Queens Expressway and the Triborough Bridge (since renamed for Robert F. Kennedy). Mr. Caro describes him persuading Long Islanders to sell some of their property to make room for parks and parkways in 1924: “Robert Moses sat, jacket off, tie loosened and shirt sleeves rolled up, drinking what he later remembered as an endless succession of glasses of beer and trading an endless succession of loud jokes with an endless succession of jovial, florid-faced but canny German and Dutch farmers, trying to bargain them down to the price—$1,200 per acre—that he had set for right-of-way. Soon he had obtained options from a dozen farmers.” Moses negotiated with allies and adversaries alike, navigating bureaucracies, interest groups and political opponents. His often controversial decisions and deals influenced New York’s landscape, and not always for the better. I come from a family of infrastructure builders and find this brilliant and complex “master builder” endlessly fascinating. Moses’s life is also a cautionary tale about what happens when power becomes an end in itself.
Cinderella Man
By Jeremy Schaap (2005)
2. James J. Braddock was an up-and-coming professional boxer in the 1920s. But after he fractured his hand, many assumed his fighting career was over. In “Cinderella Man,” Jeremy Schaap reveals how Braddock negotiated with himself—making sacrifices in the present for the promise of a better future—to return to the ring. Braddock’s injury coincided with the 1929 stock market crash. He worked one-handed on the docks to provide for his family and resumed training, becoming a symbol of the times as millions of Americans struggled through the Great Depression. “Like so many of them,” Mr. Schaap writes, “he had been humbled by forces beyond his control. Like so many of them, he had been devastated by a system that he assumed was stable. Like so many of them, he had been forced to ask for help.” In 1935, Braddock competed for the World Heavyweight championship against the titleholder, Max Baer. Although Braddock was a 10-1 underdog, he won. Dubbed the Cinderella Man for this unexpected triumph, he proved that steely perseverance, even against the odds, can yield great rewards.
Read the full piece in the Saturday, March 15th print edition of the Wall Street Journal or on the WSJ website.