to-read

It's difficult to imagine how a writer could capture the rich, complex, heartbreaking tapestry of urban crisis as eloquently and memorably as Buzz Bissinger does here. Despite the setting - an era I was too young to remember and a city I don't know well - I was immediately drawn in by the urgency of the problems and the tenacity of its protagonists. Chief among the countless things Bissinger does exceptionally well is his ability to paint the tightly woven threads of urban decay, never taking his eye off of the human element, but showing how the city's challenges impact different individuals and different communities in different ways. It adds to the discouraging complexity, the nagging idea that no matter how a problem like violence or housing or industrial decline is addressed, someone is going to be worse off for it. Ultimately, though, this sentiment is drowned out by a much more uplifting message: that a little bit of hope, determination and resiliency can go a very, very long way, even in the face of challenges that seem insurmountable.

Reading this book 25 years after it was written, you do notice that the way Bissinger talks about certain issues - race and gentrification, to name two - is at times a little outmoded. That said, he writes with an extraordinary amount of compassion and empathy, and with his characteristically direct writing style, he beautifully tells the stories of many people whose stories aren't often told. I appreciate, too, that he isn't overly hagiographic toward his subject, Mayor Rendell. He praises his attributes and lays bare his shortcomings.

This book fascinated me as someone studying policy, to see the battles and dilemmas a high-level decision maker has to face day-in day-out. But the depiction of the human element of this story may stick with me more. The delicate care with which Bissinger treats his subjects, and the skill he exhibits in weaving them together to build a cohesive picture of a city struggling to survive, is what makes this book so worth reading.

I liked the intimacy of the account. A bit like watching 'The Wire' if not as well executed.

At times I felt like the treatment of the city's racial dynamics was fairly one sided but never dishonest or disingenuous. He gave an honest account of the Rendell years in Philly from the perspective of the Rendell administration, and he did spend time on the history of cities in the 20th century and how race played a huge role in outcomes (federal housing policy/redlining/etc). That was a high point.

If the author referred to north philly as a desert one more time I would have had to deduct a star...

I quote here a recent column from George Will (not my cup of tea, but whatever) talking about L.A. Mayor Eric Garcetti - Although presidents Andrew Johnson , Grover Cleveland and Calvin Coolidge had been mayors of Greeneville, Tenn., Buffalo and Northampton, Mass., respectively, no mayor has gone directly from a city hall to the White House. But the 44th president came from eight years in the nation’s most docile and least admirable state legislature (Barack Obama effectively began running for president as soon as he escaped to Washington from Springfield, Ill.). The 45th came from six bankruptcies and an excruciating television show. Will goes on to quote Fiorello La Guardia - "There is no Republican or Democratic way to pick up the garbage.”

Our increasing nationalization of politics at both the federal and state level is so very depressing. And local politics is not immune from these pressures, but to me, there are still signs of cities functioning as laboratories of democracy.

Lo and behold, about a year ago the Amazon robots (or whatever they use to send us cheap deals for our e-readers) thought I would enjoy a 1997 book about Philadelphia. Maybe the robots knew I had loved Friday Night Lights, or that my remaining Jersey side of the family has made the trek from Newark to Middlesex County to South Jersey. Or maybe it knew that I have an undergrad political science degree. No matter the reason, the robots were so on point about this one.

Simply put, this is one of, if not THE finest books about governing that I have ever read. And I've read your Teddy White's, and your Hunter Thompson's, and your Game Changes, and your McCullough biographies. Maybe what sets it apart is that the campaign (usually the much sexier part) is so very secondary in this book to the actual act and pressures of governing. More likely what sets it apart is the brilliance of Bizzinger. As he has demonstrated time and time again, he knows what he is doing.

So much to say about this book, but as a small note of praise, the e-reader indicates that I made 45 highlights from this book. I usually don't highlight books ever since finishing undergrad and law school. (What the heck is the point? There is no mid-term in adulthood to prepare for). This one should be assigned in all of your Poli Sci classes.

Another important point about this book is that it is very much of its time. Hard to imagine how much the death of the great American City was discussed in the late 90s. Even as late as the 2004 election and the W efforts in the suburbs and exurbs. Cities now are alive and thriving. Indeed, it is suburbs that need your prayers today. Bizzinger hits on so many ideas that are so relevant today (this one belongs up there as much as any of them in understanding the Trump election).

Issues like the decline in manufacturing, corporate welfare, crime policy and it's resulting politics of race. I mean this as a great compliment to both Bissinger and Coates, but the red-lining discussion is better here than in Coates' "The Case for Reparations." What is so impressive is that Bissinger had all of this in 1997. Heck, this was even before "The Wire" - which you will see so many echoes.

Finally, an additional point on the subject of this book - Mayor Ed Rendell. Boy, the comparisons to Clinton (Bill, not Hillary) really are uncanny. And I mean that both very positively and negatively. The skilled technocratic policy-making. The politics of triangulation. But of course, the boorish behavior. The Lisa DePaulo story in this one, especially through the lens of me-too and 2018 seems so very terrible. Ed Rendell would struggle in today's political environment, but maybe that is also an indictment of our current political environment in addition to an indictment of Mayor Rendell.