If you haven't read Robert Caro's "The Power Broker", you might not see the parallel. But Moses forced a lot of construction projects on NYC whether anyone else wanted them or not, and usually tore down valuable landmarks and communities to do so. He destroyed the old Castle Garden Aquarium, on no one's say-so but his own. He wielded power ruthlessly (read the summary at the link above) and viciously attacked all opposition (hmm, another Trmp parallel). Caro's book faced a lot of resistance on behalf of Moses and his allies, and Moses attacked the book and its author after publication -- it was the first time that much of the dirt on Moses had been aired in public, since Moses silenced most of his critics with lawsuits or other retribution (again, sounds familiar). When Trmp suddenly tore down the East Wing without warning, I couldn't help but be reminded of Moses' actions -- particularly his strategem of "driving the first stake" -- once you created a construction zone by hauling in heavy machinery and ripping out parts of buildings and infrastructure, it was almost always too late for anyone to stop you (paying construction workers bonuses to come in on Sat. morning and work all weekend, while offices were closed, helped -- and Moses was willing to spend that money, which he alone controlled). Everyone cites Roy Cohn as a big shaper of Trmp's "style", but I think Moses -- who would have been in all the history of NYC while Trmp was growing up, AS A BUILDER OF BIG PROJECTS, and a callous destroyer of neighborhoods and cherished traditions -- may have been a big inspiration as well, even if the two never met ***SFAIK***.
At 750,000 words, TPB is a huge read, requiring quite a commitment of time (there have been efforts to get the original, unedited 1,300,000 word original published, so there's that to look forward to as well). If you can get a hold of a copy, and don't think you'll ever have time to read the whole thing, try reading one of the middle chapters -- "One Mile". It reveals a microcosm of Moses' actions and methods near the height of his career, and is a quite an enlightening read by itself.
There's also a short (too short for its subject) American Experience documentary on Robert Moses.
ETA: The on-screen captions are dreadfully sloppy, with some really odd mistakes and strange capitalizations -- did Trmp do the transcriptions ??
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