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

I loved this book. I was a huge fan of Jane Jacobs from reading The Death and Life of Great American Cities, which I highly recommend for anyone who is interested in or enjoys city life. When I read The Power Broker: Robert Moses and the Fall of New York I expected Jane Jacobs to make an extensive appearance and was disappointed to find that she never even showed up once. (That's right, my main complaint with the 1344 page biography is its lack of detail in one area. Apparently Robert Caro originally gave her her own chapter but the first draft was over 2000 pages and he had to cut it down to make it publishable.) So I'm really glad that this book popped up to fill that void. It's a fascinating fact that no New York mayor, or even FDR while president, was able to take down Moses, and yet he was defeated by a dedicated group of community activists. You could easily read the book knowing little about Jacobs or Moses because Flint includes background on each, but he keeps it short enough that it doesn't drag if you already know their stories. Finally, I really enjoyed the end where he summarized the the changing legacies of both figures and even the evolving appreciation of The Power Broker itself. The story of Jacobs' fight with Moses is important to understanding New York history but what is amazing is how much it still explains daily life in NYC in 2013.