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A Prayer for the City

buzz bissinger robert clark

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A Prayer for the City is Pulitzer Prize-winning journalist Buzz Bissinger's true epic of Philadelphia mayor Ed Rendell, an utterly unique, unorthodox, and idiosyncratic leader who will do anything to save his city: take unions head on, personally lobby President Clinton to save 10,000 defense jobs, or wrestle Smiley the Pig on Hot Dog Day--all the while bearing in mind the eternal fickleness of constituents whose favor may hinge on a missed garbage pick-up or an overzealous meter maid.

It is also the story of citizens in crisis: a woman fighting ceaselessly to give her great-grandchildren a better life, a father of six who may lose his job at the Navy Shipyard, and a policy analyst whose experiences as a crime victim tempt her to abandon her job and ideals.

Heart-wrenching and hilarious, alive with detail and insight, A Prayer for the City describes a city on its knees and the rare combination of political courage and optimism that may be the only hope for America's urban centers.

448 pages, Paperback

First published January 1,1997

This edition

Format
448 pages, Paperback
Published
January 1, 1999 by Random House Inc
ISBN
9780679744948
ASIN
B003FONMSU
Language
English

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About the author

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buzz bissinger

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See also H.G. Bissinger

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Community Reviews

Rating(3.9 / 5.0, 100 votes)
5 stars
35(35%)
4 stars
24(24%)
3 stars
41(41%)
2 stars
0(0%)
1 stars
0(0%)
100 reviews All reviews
Profile Image for Kimberly .
HouraiTeahouse
★ ★ ★ ★ ★
April 16,2025
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A good read. I enjoyed it quite a bit. A fun in-depth look into the functions of a city. Close to a 5 but I just needed a little more honest discussion of the shortcomings of Ed Rendell. Really good though.
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schuyguy
★ ★ ★ ★ ★
April 16,2025
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I learned so much from this book. Rendell makes for a great study in the type of personality you might find in city politics. Philadelphia makes a great subject for the national struggle of cities in the modern era. Definitely read if you have any interest in the area or in urban development.
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Corbit
★ ★ ★ ★ ★
April 16,2025
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This was one of the first books I read about Urban renewal that wasn't written like a text book. It really gives people an insight into the problems facing the Inner City's of America.
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belteshazzar_der
★ ★ ★ ★ ★
April 16,2025
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The author was given complete access to Philadelphia Mayor Ed Rendell during his first term and the book shows the inner workings, both the good and the bad, of running a big city.
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BladerWasLost
★ ★ ★ ★ ★
April 16,2025
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Author Buzz Bissinger follows Philadelphia Mayor Ed Rendell through his first term in “A Prayer for the City,” a fascinating portrait of a big-city mayor coping with various municipal crises. It’s a must-read for anyone interested in the challenges facing America’s big cities.
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atKatlin
★ ★ ★ ★ ★
April 16,2025
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absolutely wonderful back story on the politics of depleted city, Philadelphia. Though it translates to politics and city structures in general.
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tomdiabolo24
★ ★ ★ ★ ★
April 16,2025
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Remarkably engaging. Bissinger does a fantastic job humanizing Rendell and Cohen and laying out in stark language the difficulty cities face in our modern age. At times Bissinger's moralizing can seem a little heavy-handed, as he attempts to lay blame for the failure of cities at peoples feet and suggest that these very same people can fix the problem. To some degree this is subtle and to some degree it is not; while his conclusions are well-founded it takes the book in the direction of political commentary rather than hagiography. Overall, was a very pleasant and quick read and I completely recommend.
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yogibear45
★ ★ ★ ★ ★
April 16,2025
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Still gleaning some useful basic knowledge of 1990s politics in Philadelphia from this book, but the writing makes clear how hard it is to do what Robert Caro does so well -- write clear, compelling behind-the scenes political accounts for the general public. There are big holes in this narrative, key elements left unexplained or underdeveloped, and the disappointing disappearance of narrative threads at what feels like mid-story. Not terrible, but not worth reading on its own merits--only if you need to learn more about Philadelphia.
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