516 NATIONAL CIVIC REVIEW [October

Books in Review . Jewel Belluth, Editor

The City Boss TWEED’S NEW YORK. By Seymour

J. Mandelbaum. John Wiley and Sons, 605 Third Avenue, New York 10016, 1%5. ix, 196 pp. $5.95 (cloth); $2.65 (paperback).

The search for an all-encompassing theory of the city has been unsuccessful to date. Among the conceptual schemes suggested have been Burgess’s concentric zones, Hoyt’s sectors, Leontief‘s input- output analysis, Warner’s class stratifica- tion and Cooley’s breaks in transporta- tion. Joining these scholars is Seymour Mandelbaum with his “communication theory.” The author suggests that his communications model of man and society provides the frame of reference with which we can better comprehend the de- cision-making process in the city. By drawing on the seminal work of Herbert Simon, Karl Deutsch, et al., the author has utilized, in a most provocative way, their suggestive views of organization, communication and behavior and has ap- plied these to his examination of condi- tions in New York City in the latter part of the nineteenth century during the prime of Boss Tweed.

The 1870s witnessed great social and economic changes in population composi- tion, health and sanitation facilities, hous- ing accommodations, organization of transportation, and political and religious life. The writer sees these changes and the difficulties they evoked as essentially a problem in communication-the need to link man to his society in such a way that he would be assured of his freedom and spontaneity. Correspondingly. the new complexities created by the techno- logical and increasingly bureaucratic world have necessitated the creation of new mechanisms for man’s integration into the society.

There is, however, one basic limitation

to the volume. I t bears the strengths and weaknesses of former attempts to find a theory for the city. Despite a resourceful attempt to include all the significant hap- penings and trends, the facts and events of the era considered do not all fit neatly into the pattern. One seriously ques- tions, for example, whether the idea that the free movement of the market place can be simply viewed as a phenom- enon of decentralized decision-making. The market has also operated as a cen- trifugal force-e.g., in the instance of price-fixing. While the difficulties of the Tweed era may be perceived as problems in communication-as between ministers and their churches, workers and the big corporation, teachers and their students- one questions whether this constitutes a communications theory to explain the city. Whether one agrees or differs, how- ever, the book is extraordinarily provoca- tive and interesting.

Political Parties and Politics CHILDREN AND POLITICS. By Fred I.

Greenstein. Yale University Press, New Haven, Connecticut, 1%5. vii, 199 pp.

The importance of childhood as the crucial years for molding attitudes, gen- erating interests and developing character is taken as a basic starting point for this study which focuses on the development of a child’s political awareness. Having selected a group of youngsters in New Haven between the ages of nine and thir- teen, the author examines their feelings toward political authority, level of politi- cal information, party influence, class and sex differences, and the impact of environ- mental changes.

What makes this book of particular interest is the fact that, in the process of studying the political development of children, a good deal is learned about our political culture-its institutions and ide-