Today's episode features #1 Robert Caro superfan, Conan O'Brien.

The Power Broker by Robert Caro is a biography of Robert Moses, who is said to have built more structures and moved more earth than anyone in human history. And he did it without ever holding elected office. Outside of New York City, Robert Moses wasn't exceptionally well known. Inside of New York, he was mostly accepted by the media as simply the man who built all those nice parks. But The Power Broker, which is subtitled Robert Moses and The Fall of New York, changed all that. It is a tour de force of journalism, history, and biography. Roman also argues it's really fun to read and is strongly in contention for the best book ever written.

But there is something of a catch, which can hang readers up: the book is a daunting 1200 pages long. As influential and amazing as this bestseller is, many people own an unopened copy gathering dust on their bookshelf. But that is a crime because this book needs to be read or at least discussed at length on a podcast.

Roman Mars and Elliott Kalan (Flop House, Daily Show) are starting The Power Broker book club that will run through all of 2024 as bonus episodes and in this introductory episode, Conan O'Brien joins us to talk all things Robert Caro.

Breaking Down The Power Broker

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Welcome to our first official episode, breaking down the 1974 Pulitzer Prize winning book, The Power Broker by our hero Robert Caro. Robert Caro happens to be our special guest for this episode and you do not get more special than that.

On today’s show, Elliott Kalan and Roman Mars will cover the Introduction, Part 1, and Part 2 of the book (the intro through the end of Chapter 5), discussing the major story beats and themes, and then we will bring the great Robert Caro to the stage.

Power Broker #01: Robert Caro

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This is the second official episode, breaking down the 1974 Pulitzer Prize winning book, The Power Broker by our hero Robert Caro.

This week, Roman Mars and Elliott Kalan sit down with New York Times political columnist Jamelle Bouie as our book club guest.

Elliott and Roman cover Part 3 of the book (Chapter 6 through Chapter 10), discussing the major story beats and themes, with occasional asides from Jamelle Bouie guiding us through the politics of the era.

The Power Broker #02: Jamelle Bouie

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This is the third official episode, breaking down the 1974 Pulitzer Prize winning book, The Power Broker by our hero Robert Caro.

This week, Roman Mars and Elliott Kalan sit down with Blank Check podcast co-host and The Atlantic movie critic David Sims as our book club guest.

Elliott, Roman, and David cover the first section of Part 4 (Chapter 11 through Chapter 15), discussing the major story beats and themes.

The Power Broker #3: David Sims

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This is the fourth official episode, breaking down the 1974 Pulitzer Prize winning book, The Power Broker by our hero Robert Caro.

This week, Roman Mars and Elliott Kalan sit down with Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, the U.S. representative for New York's 14th congressional district, who describes the lasting impact Moses’ highways have made on her district, and her own philosophy when it comes to political power and bringing ambitious projects to life.

Elliott and Roman also cover the second section of Part 4 of the book (Chapter 16 through Chapter 20), discussing the major story beats and themes.

The Power Broker #4: Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez

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This is the fifth official episode, breaking down the 1974 Pulitzer Prize winning book, The Power Broker by our hero Robert Caro.

This week, Roman Mars and Elliott Kalan sit down with Brandy Zadrozny, a senior reporter for NBC News who covers misinformation, conspiracy theories, and the internet. Brandy recently finished The Power Broker, and she’s got a great perspective on what the book says about the press and its relationship to power, what has changed in journalism, and what has remained the same.

Elliott and Roman also cover the last section of Part 4 of the book (Chapter 21 through Chapter 24), discussing the major story beats and themes.

The Power Broker #5: Brandy Zadrozny

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This is the sixth official episode, breaking down the 1974 Pulitzer Prize winning book, The Power Broker by our hero Robert Caro.

This week, Roman Mars and Elliott Kalan sit down with Mike Schur, who created the critically acclaimed NBC comedy The Good Place, and co-created Parks and Recreation, Brooklyn 99, Rutherford Falls, and Netflix’s upcoming, A Classic Spy. Prior to Parks, Michael spent four years as a writer-producer on the Emmy Award-winning NBC hit The Office.

Mike also happens to be a big fan of The Power Broker, and has cited the book as his inspiration behind Parks & Rec.

Elliott and Roman also cover the first section of Part 5 (Chapter 25 through Chapter 26), discussing the major story beats and themes.

The Power Broker #6: Mike Schur

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This is the seventh official episode, breaking down the 1974 Pulitzer Prize winning book, The Power Broker by our hero Robert Caro.

This week, Roman Mars and Elliott Kalan sit down with Pete Buttigieg, the US Secretary of Transportation. One of his major responsibilities as Secretary is overseeing the implementation of the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law, which has contributed billions of dollars to infrastructure projects around the country.

Secretary Buttigieg was also responsible for several major infrastructure projects when he was mayor of South Bend, Indiana. And he’s talked about the importance of acknowledging and dismantling the racism built into transportation systems around the country — somewhat paraphrasing The Power Broker — and has gotten a lot of pushback for it.

Elliott and Roman also cover the second half of Part 5 and the first section of Part 6 (Chapter 27 through Chapter 32), discussing the major story beats and themes.

The Power Broker #07: Sec. Pete Buttigieg

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