"In the twentieth century, the influence of Robert Moses on the cities of America was greater than that of any other person" (Introduction, pg. 12).

"In later decades, when Robert Moses was famous almost as much for his personality as for his achievements, observers would marvel at the depth and degree of is outspokenness, stubbornness, aggressiveness and arrogance. They would wonder at the origin of the mold in which he had been formed in so hard a cast. But relative and friends of the Moses family never wondered. Whatever it was that made Robert Moses the way he was, they knew, whatever the quality that had shaped an unusual - in some ways unique - personality, the quality was one that they had watched being passed, like a family heirloom, from Robert Moses' grandmother to his mother to him. 'Robert Moses,' these people would say, 'is Bella Moses'...