There, on the Shelf, a Familiar White Paperback
By Dana Rubinstein, writing in The New York Times…
It is 46 years old, weighs nearly four pounds in paperback and is about as ill-suited for the internet age as they come: The book is not even available for digital readers.
And yet, in certain circles, the 1,246-page tome by Robert Caro, has become a breakout star of the Covid-19 era.
In TV interview after TV interview with journalists and politicians working from their homes in New York City and beyond, “The Power Broker,” Mr. Caro’s magisterial 1974 biography, is often conspicuously visible in the background, its bold red-and-white spine popping out from the screen, the ultimate signifier of New York political sophistication.
Representative Max Rose, a first-term Democrat who represents Staten Island and parts of southern Brooklyn, acknowledged intentionally placing the book stage right of his head.
The book appears behind Jonathan Capehart of The Washington Post, and next to the White House reporter for The Associated Press, Jonathan Lemire. On NY1, the cable news network, the book has become a must-have, must-be-seen accessory for several reporters.
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