The Sacrificial Circumcision of the Bronx by Arthur Nersesian
My rating: 3 of 5 stars

Fraternal Revenge

If you hate the man who created, over a period of four decades, the transportation chaos and suburban sprawl of New York City, namely Robert Moses, as much as I do (see Robert Caro's The Power Broker for details), read this book for some literary affirmation and a sense of revenge. This is the second of Nersesian's intended 'Five Books of Moses'.

Moses is the dedicated civil servant who, among many other atrocities, made the South Bronx uninhabitable by running the Cross Bronx Expressway through the middle of it in the 1960's. Unelected and unaccountable except to himself, he 'circumcised' the borough against its will and created arguably the densest traffic jam in America.

Few know that Robert had an older brother, Paul, who had also graduated Yale (as an electrical engineer). For reasons that only a Sigmund Freud might understand, Robert, through his positions of political power, ensured that Paul was unemployable in NYC. Through his family power, given him through his mother's pointedly vengeful will, he denied Paul an inheritance that would have allowed him to save his own business. Paul died in utter poverty aged 80 in a New York slum.

Paul Moses is appropriately the protagonist of The Sacrificial Circumcision of the Bronx. He offends the family by falling for a Mexican shiksa (named Rothschild!). Upon returning to the US, Paul takes up residence in the Bronx along the intended route of his brother's road. As in his actual life, things do not turn out well for Paul. There is little else to do than become more bitter and twisted as his brother moves from success to success.

Robert Moses was an all-round bastard. He deserves a little literary vilification. One can only hope brother Paul is resting easier in his grave.

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