The vision: Robert Moses and the valley of ashes -- Francis Cardinal Spellman: faithful son of America and Rome -- Moses and Spellman: the big favor -- The coup: Moses gets his blockbuster -- Spellman's dream team: the men who made it happen -- Moving marble: sacred cargo -- On stage: Mielziner's magnum opus -- Moses delivers: the fair opens -- The Vatican pavilion: heaven on this side of the earth -- The agony and the ecstasy: Michelangelo meets Hollywood -- City's embrace: the Pope's visit -- Ciao, New York: the fair closes -- Epilogue: End of an era

"In April 1964, Michelangelo's Renaissance sculpture, the Pietà, embarked on its perilous transatlantic voyage from Rome to New York to become the blockbuster of the World's Fair, accomplished only through the cooperation of two of New York's most powerful men, Robert Moses and Francis Cardinal Spellman"--