Public Works: A Dangerous Trade.

MOSES, Robert.

Item Number: 111421

New York: McGraw-Hill, 1970.

First edition of this work by the legendary urban planner. Octavo, original cloth, illustrated. Presentation copy, inscribed by the author, “To Leyland Hayward with high regard Robert Moses.” The recipient Leyland Hayward was a theatrical and Hollywood producer, most notably of South Pacific and The Sound of Music. Fine in a very good dust jacket.

Robert Moses was a public official who worked mainly in the New York metropolitan area. Known as the "master builder" of mid-20th century New York City, Long Island, Rockland County, and Westchester County, he is sometimes compared to Baron Haussmann of Second Empire Paris, and was one of the most polarizing figures in the history of urban development in the United States. His decisions favoring highways over public transit helped create the modern suburbs of Long Island and influenced a generation of engineers, architects, and urban planners who spread his philosophies across the nation despite his not having been trained in those professions. Moses would call himself a "coordinator" and was referred to in the media as a "master builder".