Note-taking Lessons From America’s Greatest Biographer

The biographer Robert Caro is a revered chronicler of history—and power. His seminal work, The Power Broker, is a staple for any reader hungry to learn how one of New York’s most influential people accumulated and used power. In this essay, originally published in 2023, researcher Jillian Hess takes us through Caro’s process for gathering and analyzing troves of information for his biographies. It’s a feat that perhaps even his subjects would be amazed by.—Kate Lee

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The first draft of the acclaimed biography The Power Broker clocked in at 1 million words. The author Robert Caro spent seven years of his life writing it, crafting his magnum opus about the life of New York City municipal builder Robert Moses. It’s considered one of the greatest nonfiction works of the 20th century—less of a biography and more of a sweeping, detailed study about the nature of power.

As Caro’s first published book, it was a portent of the kind of story he’d spend the rest of his life telling. He became famous for his meticulous approach to biographical research, sometimes taking a full decade to complete a book. Since the 1970s, he has focused his efforts on a five-book series about U.S. President Lyndon B. Johnson. Fans are anxiously awaiting the final installment, which he’s been working on since 2012.

You can imagine just how hard it would be to make sense of a decade’s worth of research, let alone bring it all to life in a compelling narrative. In that regard, there’s a lot we can learn from Caro’s methodical approach to note-taking and writing.

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