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Title: The Future Once Happened Here: New York, D.C., L.A., and the Fate of America's Big Cities by Fred Siegel ISBN: 1-893554-10-4 Publisher: Encounter Books Pub. Date: 07 February, 2000 Format: Paperback Volumes: 1 List Price(USD): $15.95 |
Average Customer Rating: 3.7 (10 reviews)
Rating: 4
Summary: Good message, uneven delivery
Comment: This book is excellent dissection of the failure of American urban policy since the 1960s, but it does have some flaws of note. Fred Siegel has a clear point to make, but all too frequently he gets waylaid by his own grudges. It is obvious that this man is a Democrat in the conservative mold furious at the disastrous manner in which Liberals in the late 1960s and 1970s ran three of America's finest cities. Fine. 1960's Liberalism was a disaster for Americas cities, particularly New York, Washington & Los Angeles. Point taken and agreed upon, but time and again this point is made in an angry and confrontational manner.
Siegel's publisher would have done good to convince his author to adopt a more conciliatory tone. This book is angry, and the author's anger perhaps serves a dual purpose- to showcase how angry moderate, suburban Democrats (such as this reviewer) are at how urban liberals led the party astray, and to mirror the anger and contempt these liberals felt towards their critics.
Good message. Uneven delivery.
Rating: 5
Summary: An expert analysis.
Comment: An excellent history coverage, Fred Siegel's The Future Once Happened Here examines three major U.S. cities which are metaphors for American social life. From urban problems and solutions to historical trends which have changed the face of these cities, New York, Washington D.C. and Los Angeles are treated to expert analysis.
Rating: 4
Summary: Cause and effect, but what about solutions?
Comment: There is really not a lot that is contentious about the central argument in THE FUTURE ONCE HAPPENED HERE. The book looks at the fate of three once great American cities - New York, Los Angeles and Washington DC, and argues that their demise over the last few decades is a direct result of the following: After the urban riots of the 1960's the ruling liberal urban elites convinced themselves that this anger was justified by the poverty of urban blacks. To ameliorate this situation they decided to create a vast social welfare system. This, Mr Siegel calls the "riot idelogy" and it is characterized by the replacement of a belief in personal responsibility with a philosophy of life that instills dependence on government.
Another reviewer rightly says that this concept of riot ideology is reminiscent of Edward Banfield and his cultural basis for urban behavior as argued in THE UNHEAVENLY CITY; I think the argument here is less focused on culture but more simply on discipline in economics and morals. It is certainly more plausible that what was offered by Banfield. The riot idelogy has caused an explosion in urban crime and a huge increase in government expenses, and concomitantly an increase in taxes; all of which have driven private industry out of the city and contributed to fiscal chaos.
This argument is not originally Mr Siegels', nor is it new; it however remains controversial. William Julius Wilson in THE TRULY DISADVANTAGED, years ago similarly argued that the liberal creators of the Great Society programs were wrong headed for believing that simply providing welfare programs would cause poverty to shrink; reduction of poverty is influenced much more by economic growth. Both authors in stressing the role of the economy have been heavily criticized by the left. Neither book however is partisan and Mr Siegel certainly is critical of conservative politicians, who with their anti-urban bias, use the inner city poor as whipping boys for the cultural forces that so scare suburban and rural voters.
While Mr Siegel is lucid and certainly vocal in ascribing blame, if there is a weakness in the book, it is with solutions. In contrast to THE TRULY DISADVANTAGED, Mr Siegel is rather silent on what to do about the inner city poor. Certainly fiscal and moral discipline, economic growth, and private sector initiatives are fine but that is broad based. At the individual level it still comes down to people. Hopefully Mr Siegel's silence here does not mean that in the end he supports the view that all that the poor need to do is change their culture and get a job. After all is said and done, the dire situation that the inner city poor still find themselves in requires government assistance; the debate is really about what forms and level this should be.
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Title: Comeback Cities: A Blueprint for Urban Neighborhood Revival by Paul S. Grogan, Tony Proscio ISBN: 0813339529 Publisher: Westview Press Pub. Date: 01 December, 2001 List Price(USD): $17.00 |
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Title: Inside Game/Outside Game: Winning Strategies for Saving Urban America ("A Century Foundation Book) by David Rusk ISBN: 0815776500 Publisher: Brookings Institution Press Pub. Date: 01 March, 1999 List Price(USD): $32.95 |
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Title: The Tourist City by Dennis R. Judd, Susan S. Fainstein ISBN: 0300078463 Publisher: Yale University Press Pub. Date: 01 May, 1999 List Price(USD): $19.00 |
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Title: City Schools: Lessons from New York by Diane Ravitch, Joseph Viteritti ISBN: 0801863422 Publisher: Johns Hopkins University Press Pub. Date: 01 June, 2000 List Price(USD): $25.95 |
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Title: Rebuilding the Inner City by Robert Halpern ISBN: 0231081154 Publisher: Columbia University Press Pub. Date: 15 April, 1995 List Price(USD): $25.00 |
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