Illusions of Certainty [Again]

Hello Universe 148

7 months ago, I started learning about characters like Caesar, Cicero, Cato, and Pompey, thanks to Historia Civilis, a brilliant Youtube channel. Here’s what I wrote then in reflection:

Learning about this time from 2000 years ago, about men like Caesar, I can’t help but wonder how these individuals lived with the kind of power that they had. They were creating new rules for a new kind of world. They were wealthier than anyone else in their time.

And yet, the more I learn about them, I realize - they were just people.

These days, I’m conducting another investigation into power, thanks to Robert Caro’s masterpiece “The Power Broker”, an unofficial biography of Robert Moses, who is often called “the man who built modern New York”.

“99 Percent Invisible”, the podcast, started reading this book as its 2024 pick, and will be sharing episodes about it once a month this entire year. Their first episode discussing this book featured my favorite comedian, Conan O’Brien, and I was pleasantly taken by his and the podcasts’ view on the book, its subject Moses, and its author Caro, and decided to check it out myself.

This book describes the ascent of Moses in the world of public service and how he built public infrastructure like parks, parkways, and bridges in the city of New York and large parts of the New York state as well. As a reporter for Newsday in the early 1960s, Caro, the author, investigated and wrote about a controversial bridge across the Long Island Sound that Moses was championing, and was surprised when the development went through and was approved.

"That was one of the transformational moments of my life," Caro said years later. He realized that Moses was an individual with unparalleled power in the state and the city, and decided to find out more about him. Originally, he thought the book would take only nine months to write, but it ended up taking seven years! The painstaking research shows in his writing, but at no point does it feel like a report - instead, it feels like literature of the highest order - gripping, exciting, and a total page turner.

The book has had its own share of criticism over the years, and the legacy Robert Moses has enjoyed somewhat of a revival in many circles - however, the book remains a fantastic look at how power can be acquired, wielded, and used to drive powerful outcomes.

I recommend you read it right away.

I’m publishing this poem again, as I did when I read about the Roman Republic. It is a reminder that however powerful, however accomplished, an individual is an individual.

Alright, poem starts in 3… 2… 1!

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"Oh look at that man!"
said they, "Look at him grow!"
"Look at his swagger!"
"And look at his glow!"

"Look at his efforts!"
"And look at his skill!"
"Look at his milestones!"
"And look! He's so chill!"

They followed his words
and they followed his will.
If he would've told them,
they'd climb up a hill.

They'd ask him his secrets,
his plan and his flow. 
He'd whisper in silence
"I don't really know."

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That’s it! Thanks for checking out edition no. 148 of Hello Universe.

If you’ve already read the book, I am excited to talk to you about it! Tell me in the comments what you thought of it and what impressed you the most about the book. I started it just last Friday and am already done with a third of the book (it’s a real page-turner), and my favorite part so far was when his mother heaved a sigh of relief when Moses, at the age of 38, got his first paying job as Secretary of State for New York.

Today’s “Some Fun Stuff” is just one recommendation - go read The Power Broker. It is just that good.

Alright, that’s it for this week, see you next Tuesday!