What happened
Robert Caro wrote The Power Broker and began The Years of Lyndon Johnson using immersive research: fellowships, hundreds of interviews, physical relocation, and repeated engagement with subjects including Robert Moses.
How we know it
The document states Caro’s methods explicitly: Nieman Fellowship at Harvard (1965–1966), Carnegie Fellowship at Columbia (1967–1968), 522 interviews for The Power Broker—including seven with Robert Moses—and relocation to rural Texas and Washington, D.C. for the Johnson biography.
Why it went that way
Caro chose this method because he framed his work as a study of ‘the acquisition and use of power’—a deliberate thematic focus that dictated immersion, access, and repetition over abstraction or synthesis.
What is still contested
The document does not address contested interpretations of Caro’s conclusions, nor does it report disagreement about his findings, methodology, or impact. No contestation is established in the source material.
What it changed
The document does not state what Caro’s work changed—no effects on policy, scholarship, public understanding, or institutions are cited. It describes process, not consequence.
Is it worth your time
Yes—if you need evidence of how power operates in democratic institutions, not just theory. Caro’s method is replicable, his sources named, his focus narrow and sustained. It is not journalism, history, or political science alone—but a documented practice of power-mapping.