Robert Caro portrays Robert Moses as an idealistic reformer in the 1910s who joined the good-government movement to replace Tammany Hall’s patronage system with honest, competent administration, rather than as someone who sought power from the outset.

“Caro paints Moses as somebody who began as an idealist rather than somebody who craved power from the very start. In the 1910s, Moses was a brilliant young reformer who joined this new good government movement, which was trying to replace Tammany Hall's patronage with honest and competent administration.”