How much did Robert Caro have to cut from The Power Broker?

Robert Caro says he handed editor Bob Gottlieb a Power Broker manuscript of 1,050,000 words. Because Caro insisted on a single volume, they brought it down to about 700,000 words, cutting roughly 350,000. Caro says Gottlieb called some of the cut material the best he had ever read, and Caro still finds it tragic that nobody knows it. He admits he cannot stop himself writing what he thinks should be written, even knowing it will be cut.

• Caro says he did about 700 interviews for The Power Broker alone, with typed notes kept in his files.
• Caro says that experience is why he now plans each book fully before writing.

Source: our own transcription of the episode. The full conversation is on Dwarkesh Podcast (2026-10-30). Read the whole episode summary →

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