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Wrestling with Moses: How Jane Jacobs Took On New York's Master Builder and Transformed the American City

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"Wrestling With Moses" is the true story of how a small group of neighbors challenged, and stopped, rampaging development in New York City, led by Robert Moses. Jane Jacobs formed her ideas for her brilliant "Death and Life of Great American Cities" in the struggles to save Washington Square Park, and many neighborhoods, countering Moses's approach of total demoition and replacement by roads and instant slum housing projects. It is hard today to comprehend how Moses held so much power, staying in charge through five mayors, but Jane Jacobs and her neighbors offer lessons for taking on today's stone-wall bureaucracies. Anthony Flint clearly likes the late Jane Jacobs, but gives Moses his full due. A good read for anyone interested in politics, urban studies, or involved in fighting wrong-headed development (like the proposed I-10 Bypass in my rural Arizona neighborhood).

According to the urbanist and civic activist Jane Jacobs, author of the modern classic "The Death and Life of Great American Cities," a city is made great by the diversity of its neighborhoods, which are in themselves the organic growth and interactions of buildings, streets, and people: cities are not planned, but grown and nurtured by the people who live in them. That's the completely opposite approach of the master builder Robert Moses, who saw New York City as wild, sprawling, and restless, and which needed to be tamed, structured, and controlled by the sheer power of his will and imagination. It is the epic struggle between these unlikely enemies -- one a fiercely ambitious Yale graduate who controlled most of the city's construction and a soft-spoken self-educated mother of three -- that the former Boston Globe architecture correspondent Anthony Flint chronicles in "Wrestling with Moses: How Jane Jacobs Took on New York's Master Builder and Transformed the American City."

In the epilogue Mr. Flint writes that Jane Jacobs offered help and information to a young Newsday reporter by the name of Robert Caro while he was researching his epic "The Power Broker: Robert Moses and the Fall of New York." The book was much too long, and Robert Caro had to cut out the chapter on Jane Jacobs. Mr. Caro was writing a book about Robert Moses, and there is little reason to suspect that, so busy with his epic battles with American President Franklin Roosevelt and New York Governor Nelson Rockefeller as well as overseeing his vast empire that could at any time be responsible for over two thousand construction projects, Mr. Moses paid any attention to a committed but ultimately powerless urban activist by the name of Jane Jacobs. By the time of Jane Jacobs' ascent, culminating with the 1961 publication of her classic tome on what makes a city great the seeds of Robert Moses' decline had already been planted: his arrogance, his pride, his absolutely loyalty to his corrupt functionaries, his disregard for and contempt of his fellow beings, and his relentless power-mongering all caused his spectacular descent from power after spending a lifetime methodically and meticulously rising to the top. To suggest that Jane Jacobs or one book or one movement could take down this titan as Anthony Flint and many thinkers suggest is slightly ridiculous. Robert Moses made too many enemies, and his ideas didn't work: his highways and transportation grids caused more problems -- mainly traffic -- than they solved, and his urban renewal plans destroyed neighborhoods, livelihoods, and lives. Living in and witnessing the Age of Moses, an intelligent observer such as Jane Jacobs could see exactly what was wrong.

Mr. Flint's book draws on shamelessly from other works, and there is very little original research that the author himself conducted. On his section on Robert Moses Mr. Flint breathlessly summarizes "The Power Broker." Yet, ironically, even though Mr. Flint's book is ostensibly about Jane Jacobs, and Mr. Caro's book is about Robert Moses, it's Mr. Flint's book that best captures the spirit of Robert Moses and Mr. Caro's book that captures best the spirit of Jane Jacobs.

Robert Moses liked to plan big projects and construct them as quickly as he could, and "Wrestling with Moses" certainly feels that way: it sounds like an excellent story, but the story of the struggle reads too artificial and mechanical. Like most of Robert Moses' structures there's no life and soul in "Wrestling with Moses": it's just there.

And if it were a city "The Power Broker" would be Jane Jacob's ideal: each chapter is sprawling, diverse, and overflowing. Each chapter feels like its own neighborhood, with its own collection of diverse people, structures, philosophy, and language. You can roam each chapter of "The Power Broker" at your own pace, feel alive in it, and know that if you come back you'll always find new things to interest you. Like all great pieces of literature and great neighborhoods "The Power Broker" will continue to interact with people in different ways at different times.

Surprisingly shallow treatment of the two dynamic leaders butting heads over differing visions. The author manages to present a richly dramatic story in a way that robs it of drama and personality. 'Thin' may be the best descriptor for this book - anyone expecting an in-depth understanding of either these people or these times should be made aware that this book will tell you the basic story, but leave you hungry for more. The author tries to rise to the challenge - but he has not spent the time or the energy to write anything definitive. Read Robert Caro's biography of Robert Moses to encounter the real deal.

Special mention should be made of the poor editing - practically identical sentences in consecutive paragraphs was one that made me wince. But a strong editor who sent the author back better comments might have improved this book considerably.

All that said, I did manage to finish it - Jane Jacobs is an interesting figure, and this is the first attempt at her biography I had read. But, of course, you would do better just to read her books.

Anthony Flint effectively captures the story of Jane Jacobs rise to a civic activist and intellectual leader. Readers learn how Jane Jacobs developed her interest in livable cities and then how she fought the legendary Robert Moses to keep a part of Manhattan liveable. The pace is crisp, and the personalities come through the page. We now have context around the battle to save Greenwich Village. One striking sidenote is the reference to Saul Alinsky, a champion of community organization in Chicago who served as an inspiration for Jacobs' community action. Just reminds us that people can make a difference, even if they aren't powerful and rich.
An Inspriational Read... and its all true.

Quick Summary: The ultimate battle of good vs. evil set in activist scenery of 1960s and 1970s New York City. Flint describes the clash of two very divergent approaches to urban spaces. Flint provides a more balanced portrayal of both Robert Moses and Jane Jacobs showing how their visions unfolded in the cityscape of New York.

In Wrestling with Moses, Flint provides a dramatic account of the stand-off between the much revered Jane Jacobs and the oft vilified Robert Moses during a period when slum clearance and urban renewal dominated the field of planning as a means or urban improvement. Moses, hell-bent on leaving a lasting legacy on New York City accumulated unprecedented power through incestuous wrangling of bureaucracy and absolute mastery of the system. Jacobs, an unlikely writer from Scranton, Pennsylvania sought to protect urban areas from unnecessary intervention in order to allow the orchestra of city life to play out in peace.


While this story has been retold many times in countless public meetings around the country as a testament to the power of activism, Flint provides a remarkable amount of depth in his vivid account of the battle between Jacobs and Moses. Flint speaks of Jacobs's early life and how she molded herself into one of the country's most renowned critics of architecture and urban planning. Similarly, he tells of the near fanaticism with which Moses engaged his many titles, all of which gave him varying degrees of influence over New York's infrastructure.


Flint does an excellent job of providing a sense of balance in a series of events where most accounts depict a clear battle of good versus evil. Although Jacobs is certainly the hero of the story, Flint has no qualms with telling of some of her more questionable techniques. Flint also provides an unparalleled level of details of the political teeter tottering that occurred behind the scenes of Jacobs's efforts to save Washington Square Park. With all of the complexities of community organization intact, Wrestling with Moses provides insight into the nature of such fights.


I was most impressed with Flint's closing of Wrestling with Moses. Rather than taking the opportunity to take a cheap shot at Moses for all of his failed attempts at urban planning, Flint takes the time to explore some of Moses's positive contributions as well as to point out some of the areas where Jacobs's theories were lacking. This book is a definitive resource for anyone interested in learning about some of the most formative moments in how we conceptualize the modern city. Flint provides a context for Jacobs's writing, and I found that it stimulating my interests in returning to some of her writing knowing the sheer emotion behind her thoughts. Flint's ability to navigate through a difficult narrative while somehow making the bureaucracy of local government appear exciting speaks volumes for his talents as an author.

Being a Jacobs aficionado I enjoyed the book and learned much. But I think Flint erred in writing, " . . . Moses's aspirations had aligned perfectly with the vision of President Dwight D. Eisenhower, who in 1956 had signed the National Interstate and Defense Highways Act, calling for a vast network of superhighways in and around the country's major metropolitan areas . . . " According to Roger Kennedy in his book Wildfire and Americans: How to Save Lives, Property, and Your Tax Dollars, Eisenhower ". . . was not a city-gutter, or a believer in large-scale, top-down urban reordering." He came to the presidency "pursuaded of the need for a federal program of highway construction between cities -- not through cities, however, and this was a crucial distinction for him." But Eisenhower's aides had to promise "great sums to urban congresspeople to tear down and build up, in a festival -- indeed, a veritable orgy -- of pork. It appears that they neglected to tell the president either about the pork or about bulldozing through cities and not just between them to create highways." When Eisenhower found out about the deception, he was "not pleased" and said in one meeting that "running Interstate routes through the congested parts of the cities was entirely against his original concept and wishes; that he never anticipated that the program would turn out that way." Interested readers are referred to chapter 5 ("Trueman, Eisenhower, and the Road Gang") of the Wildfire book.

Flint comments in the book on Jacobs' frugality. It's indeed apparent in two photos provided of her, one taken in 1947, showing a young Jacobs at her typewriter and wearing a white blouse. In other photo of her taken probably ten years later as she baked cookies at home, she is shown wearing what is very probably the same blouse.

This is an insightful description of critical battles over New York public policy plans. Robert Moses, who led various New York City transportation and planning departments, proposed the creation of a ten lane elevated highway in Manhattan. It would require tearing down 400 buildings and remove 2,200 families and 800 businesses. Jane Jacobs was a leader of community groups that opposed and killed this proposal.

Jane Jacobs wrote for "Architectural Forum" when she was assigned to write about city planner Edward Bacon and how Philadelphia center city neighborhoods were being torn down for redevelopment projects. Bacon took Jacobs on a tour and proudly showed her much new construction. Jacobs asked Bacon "where are the people?" Jacobs began questioning urban renewal programs.

The Federal government policies known as Title I, following the philosophy of Le Corbusier that favored large and functional structures, favored razing poorer neighborhoods so new private development could replace them. A problem in New York City was the newly constructed structures were not necessarily better than what they replaced. No one ever asked the residents what they preferred. In East Harlem, relocating 50,000 people also came at the expense of 1,100 stores. Jane Jacobs noted the residents rejected their newer superstores and instead preferred the local smaller stores, now located further away.

Moses proposed constructing a road that would cross Washington Square Park. This was the park where Jane Jacobs took her children. This set up a clash between an urban renewal power, Moses, and a critic, Jacobs.

Moses held as many as 12 appointed public positions simultaneously. When legislation created a commission he wanted to control, he had the legislation created so he would be the obvious candidate to fill the important position within that commission.

Moses used a strategy of building projects quickly. By doing this, opposition to his ideas lacked sufficient time to organize against them. Moses had laws created to enable rapid construction that also provided him ease in condemning land.

Moses ran as the Republican nominee for Governor of New York in 1934. He called the incumbent Governor Herbert Lehman corrupt. Lehman won easily. President Roosevelt wanted Moses out of power and threatened to deny Federal funds to projects Moses directed. Moses leaked this to the press, who faulted Roosevelt for being involved in petty local politics. Roosevelt, Governor Lehman, and Mayor LaGuardia all felt this pressure and decided not to seek to remove Moses. Being able to defy the elected leaders and remain in power only Moses appear stronger.

Moses was known for being vindictive. He was also known for keeping tabs on Commission and Council members and blackmailing them for support in return for keeping quite on extraneous love affairs or drunkenness. Moses even ignored the law, causing Mayor LaGuardia to have the police make certain Moses didn't have something torn down that legally wasn't supposed to be destroyed.

In 1949, several members of Congress feared cities were declining. Title I of the Housing Act of 1949 sought to save cities by encouraging new private development. The primary means to build anew was to tear down existing low income and relatively cheaper to purchase neighborhoods. Mayor William O'Dwyer named Moses as Construction Coordinator, Chairman of the Emergency Committee on Housing, and Chairman of the Committee on Slum Clearance. New York received $70 million in Title I funds, compared to Chicago which received the second most amount of these funds at $30 million.

Many of the new developments that were constructed met the aims of the private developers. More profitable housing options for the upper and middle classes were built rather than housing for the displaced poorer residents. Even the housing that was created often cut corners in construction and were not as nice as expected. The displaced low income often could not afford for afford to move back into the new constructions and those who could afford them often were disappointed.

Walter O'Malley, owner of the Brooklyn Dodgers baseball team, noted most of the Dodgers fan base was moving further away from the Dodgers' stadium, Ebbetts Field. Many fans were moving into more distant Long Island locations. The stadium did not have a Long Island Railway (LIRR) stop and had only 700 parking spaces. Moses refused the Dodgers access to LITT. Moses instead wanted to build a new stadium in Flushing, where Shea Stadium eventually would be built. O'Malley decided to move the Dodgers to Los Angeles.

Moses proposed extending Fifth Avenue through Washington Park. This project called for destroying many Greenwich Village buildings. A new housing development Moses proposed for the area would destroy 130 buildings and displace 150 families.

Moses saw Washington Square Park as a decaying area with broken benches. He saw it as a target for urban revitalization. Area residents saw it as their park and sanctuary. Neighbors in 1935 formed the Save Washington Square Commission in reaction to Moses's plans. Moses threatened to cut off improvement funds if the residents continued resisting. He refused to meet with the group. In 1939, Moses submitted a second but similar plan. Moses again threatened to cut off New Deal funds. This divided the citizens group and they endorsed Moses's plan by a one vote margin. A splinter group continued opposing Moses. They gained thousands of signatures opposed the plan. This opposition was joined by a group of nearby New York University (NYU) students who feared for pedestrian safety. Manhattan Borough President Stanley Isaacs insisted that approval of the project would require the support of neighborhood voters.

Moses reacted by vilifying the neighborhood opponents as elitists who were stopping progress. Moses met with New York University officials to seek their support. Moses decided to play a waiting game to wear down the opposition.

Neighborhood groups began obtaining their own data on traffic counts. They did not accept the official city data. Opponents conducted letter writing campaigns to officials and newspapers.

Moses used the tactic of postponing public hearings shortly before they were to be held and then quickly called for them. He hoped this would minimize the number of people who objected from attending.

Jacobs decided her group would insist there be no vehicles allowed at Washington Square. They would not challenge the broad Moses vision, yet they would refuse to compromise on that one point. They would not agree to a two lane road instead of the proposed four lane road,

Lewis Mumford agreed with Jacobs's group. He saw it as commercial profit at the public expense. Members of the Village Independent Democrats, such as Edward Koch, supported Jacobs's cause. Both Congressional nominees endorsed Jacob's goals, including the eventual winner John V. Lindsay.

An alternative newspaper, the "Village Voice", wrote supportively on the neighborhood battles against Moses. Eleanor Roosevelt joined in support. Then, support began emerging form political power insiders. Secretary of State Carmine DeSapio, a leader of the Tammany Democratic Party organization and a Greenwich Village resident, spoke out for saving Washington Square. Moses realized he had been defeated once DeSapio was against him. From there, support for saving Washington Square increased to including Mayor Robert Wagner and Governor Averell Harriman.

Moses retreated and developed a new proposal in 1959. If Washington Park were to be closed to vehicles, he wanted the streets around the park widened to 80 feet with rounded corners. Instead, Mayor Wagner in 1963 cut off all vehicle traffic, including buses. This yielded 1 ½ more acres of parkland by eliminating the roads.

The location where Moses wanted to become Fifth Avenue south is now LaGuardia Place with a statue of Fiorello LaGuardia. Where the road would have continued south of Washington Park is where Bobst Library of NYU now stands.

Jacobs had a separate struggle with Moses. Moses sought to construct the Lower Manhattan Expressway. This was a project that worked well with the Federal government goals of creating superhighways according to the National Interstate and Defense Highways Act. Moses saw several highways connective Manhattan to its regions as important to maintaining Manhattan's economic and social vitality. He had the Cross Bronx Expressway built and sought to connect it to northern Manhattan. Moses proposed a Mid-Manhattan expressway running from the Lincoln Tunnel to the Queens Midtown Tunnel.

Father Gerard LaMountan was upset that this proposed expressway would mean the Church of the Most Holy Crucifix would be torn down. He turned to Jane Jacobs for help. Jacobs decided she could endure another fight when she saw he also had recruited neighbors and skilled organizers. There were religious and political leaders and understanding that La Cosa Nostra was not pleased to see its territory devastated. Bob Dylan wrote a song of support.

Herman Badillo wrote a report for the city claiming all displaced people would be provided with new housing. The opposition was not satisfied. Jane Jacobs stood up against making it easier to drive vehicles in New York City. She encouraged mass transit, foot transit, and bicycling. Moses argued for the need to act to avoid traffic congestion.

Moses let Jacobs and her associates win an initial victory at halting the project. Moses often used delays to his advantage and would wait for the opportunity to renew his fights for his proposals. Moses declared that Jacobs was an obstructionist.

Rep. John V. Lindsay opposed the project and was elected Mayor. Moses still fought, declaring that the SoHo neighborhood was blighted and should be destroyed. The growing historic preservation movement differed. Jacobs thus had new allies in people seeking to preserve the history of Lower Manhattan.

Mayor Lindsay faced a threatened strike of 200,000 city workers if he delivered on his promise to stop construction projects. Lindsay agreed to an open trench highway that would destroy 650 homes and 400 businesses, compared to the 2,000 homes and 00 business structures Moses had proposed. Jacobs and advocates pushed to kill the idea. Jacobs was arrested for protesting. The arrest galvanized support for Jacobs. Lindsay agreed to kill the proposal.

Governor Rockefeller reduced Moses's powers. Rockefeller agreed with killing the Lower Manhattan project as well as another Moses proposal for a bridge across the Long Island Sound. Moses remained a consultant but his influence was mostly gone.

Jacobs wrote several influential books on city planning issues. Moses retired soon afterwards.

Jacobs continued being upset at redevelopment plans that began with little or no public notification. She continued working to preserve parks and neighborhoods in the West Village against redevelopment. Rep. Lindsay joined with the neighborhood activists in protesting that not enough notice was given. Jacobs appealed to the press as well as to political leaders, and got their attention.

The plan to develop the West Village was led by James Felt, Chairman of the City Planning Commission, and developer J. Clarence Davies, Jr., Chairman of the Department of Real Estate and Director of Housing and Redevelopment Board (a descendant of one of Moses's previous commissions). Davies declared the West Village was blighted. They sought to diminish the neighborhood activists by creating a group, Middle Income Cooperators of the Village and its subsidiary, the West Village
Site Tenants' Committee. To support their plans, Roger Starr and his group, the Citizens Housing and Planning Council, also endorsed the redevelopment efforts. David Rockefeller gave his support.

Jacobs filed a lawsuit to stop the project. The Judge ordered that the blight designation be justified. He also ruled the city had not met public hearing requirements.

State Comptroller Arthur Levitt ran against Mayor Wagner for renomination as Mayor. Levitt supported stopping the West Village redevelopment plans. Wagner then also agreed to oppose the proposal and to increase citizen participation. Felt, noting the City Planning Commission is independent of the Mayor, continued pushing for the development. The City Planning Commission officially designated the West Village as blighted.

Felt tried to use the tactic of suddenly scheduling hearings. There was a secret sympathizer against the proposal working in Felt's office who always tipped off Jacobs as to when the meetings were being announced. Jacob successfully rallied people to attend.

The neighborhood activists determined that private developer David Rose Associates had already been chosen to build the redevelopments. The group discovered that the developers were supporting the community groups supporting development. They found they even used the same typewriter. The activists then obtained over 100 notarized statements from members of the pro-development groups stating they had been tricked into joining. Davies halted the efforts to redevelop West Village. Davies resigned his post within a month and Felt resigned two years later.

Jacobs, in her writings, would argue that city planning was an impossible task. She argued that neighborhoods had their own structures that shouldn't' be changed by city planners.

City planner Edward Logue denounced Jacobs's writing as "a plea for the status quo." Roger Staff responded that "if Jacobs had visited Pompeii and concluded that nothing makes a city so beautiful as covering it with ashes." Starr notes Jacobs's vision would do little to prevent gentrification from driving low income people out of the neighborhoods.

Jacobs joined movement for historic preservation, including fighting tearing down Penn Station. Her writings are heralded by many libertarians.

This short book details the protests inspired and led by Jane Jacobs against various projects spearheaded by Robert Moses in New York's Greenwich Village in the 1950's and 60's.

It is extremely well researched and much more substantial than the biography of Jane Jacobs by Alice Alexiou. Actually, it deals not only with Jane Jacobs' life but also with Robert Moses'. Anecdotally, it even includes poems written by Jacobs and Moses in their student days! The photographs add significantly to the contents and are very revealing of the times.

The essence of the book is narrative but the analytical epilogue is of the greatest interest with respect to the true impact of both protagonists on our cities and our ways of thinking. It could actually be read quite separately from the rest of the work.

Sadly, the layout in the hardcover version is blandly traditional with the strictly black and white photographs grouped together in unnumbered pages towards the middle of the book.

Worse, the writing style is hampered by an organization that is thematic and not strictly chronological. This leads of course to some repetition from one chapter to another. The lack of chronology sometimes also confusingly occurs within a single paragraph. The High Line Park of 2009 is for instance introduced in the discussion of freight transportation in the 60's.

Overall, however, this book is warmly recommended to those curious and concerned with the development of cities and its history.

Although I wish this book was a bit longer, Mr. Flint has written an easy flowing well researched book concerning the conflict between Jane Jacobs and Robert Moses, who this reviewer to this day still has a sour taste in regards to some of his projects. Unlike Robert Caro's full biography of 1200+ pages, Mr. Flint took one important story of Mr. Moses' extensive life and displayed it in an unbiased work.
Recommended for anyone interested in NYC history.

This is an interesting contemporary companion book to Jane Jacobs' classic Death and Life of Great American Cities. Wrestling with Moses details a modern David and Goliath story that recounts Jacobs' successful fights against the policies of the powerful New York City urban planner Robert Moses, especially his efforts to put a four lane road through Washington Square Park. Although not as influential as Death and Life, it's a good book and a reminder of what determination and grit can accomplish. Very interesting perspective on politics and cities. It's a good read, too.