Publish The Powerbroker, Uncut
Alfred A. Knopf, Knopf Doubleday Publishing Group and Penguin Random House LLC
In 1974, almost exactly 50 years ago, Robert Caro submitted the final, fully edited 1,050,000 word manuscript of The Power Broker: Robert Moses and the Fall of New York. Only a few people have ever read that full version. A full 300,000 words were cut to fit the book into a single volume.
Says Caro,"To this day, when someone says: “There’s hardly a mention of Jane Jacobs,” I think, “but I wrote a lot about her.” Every time I’m asked about that, I have this sick feeling."
It's missing a whole chapter devoted to Jacobs, and only Caro knows how many other richly reported details we're missing from the current 1,246 page version.
This petition is a request from Caro's devoted fans and ardent readers: let us read the full, uncut version of this still relevant, brilliant work!
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To:
Alfred A. Knopf, Knopf Doubleday Publishing Group and Penguin Random House LLC
From:
[Your Name]
As devoted fans and ardent readers of Robert Caro, we believe we deserve a chance to read the full, uncut masterpiece that is The Power Broker: Robert Moses and the Fall of New York.
There are thousands of us eager to read the completed 1,050,000 manuscript that still resides in Robert Caro's papers. This is the 50th anniversary of this mighty work, a perfect time to announce the upcoming release of the director's cut.
Make it so!