338 NATIONAL CIVIC REVIEW [June

former Governor Robert B. Meyner of New Jersey seemed more timid about getting his state involved in transit and preferred deferring to federal respon- sibility while his confrire, then-Governor Abraham A. Ribicoff of Connecticut was was less involved in the transit issue because the commuter crisis was limited to Fairfield County.

The problems of mass transit come alive in this book because of Dr. Daniel- son’s skill in writing and his sensitivity to the political realities which serve as his frame of reference. How was it ever possible to get the 1964 transit bill through Congress? The answer con- stitutes the author’s thesis. By a slow consensus-building political process, groups were gradually drawn together, beginning with the core cities and their allies, railroad interests, then some of the suburbs, a number of crucial states and key congressional leaders, including the star, Senator Harrison A. Williams, Jr., of New Jersey. This process the author labels federal-metropolitan politics.

One aspect of the book is puzzling-the term “metropolitan actor,” which is used to describe participants in metropolitan politics who have most of their constit- uents in the metropolitan area. The study stands essentially as proof that we have few, if any, metropolitan actors. Rather, we have urban, suburban, state and national actors who play bit parts in a metropolitan play which is too big for any one of them to control or direct alone.

Reapportionment THE EFFECT OF THE FEDERAL REAPPOR-

TIONMENT DECISIONS ON COUNTIES AND OTHER FORMS OF MUNICIPAL GOVERN- MENT. By Jack B. Weinstein. Columbia Law Review, Columbia Law Review As- sociation, Inc., New York, January 1965. 34 pages.

The number of local government reap- portionment cases is multiplying each day. Already, the National Municipal

League has gathered together enough precedent-setting cases to publish a 168- page volume of local government opinions in the Court Decisions tm Legislative Apportiortment series.

The January issue of the Columbia Low Review contains an excellent article by Jack B. Weinstein, county attorney for Nassau County, New York, wherein he effectively covers the local reappor- tionment situation, cites the probable trend of events and offers a series of recommendations.

W.J.D.B.

Urban Renewal REBUILDING CITIES. By Basil Zimmer.

Quadrangle Books, 180 North Wacker Drive, Chicago 60606, 1964. 363 pp. $6.75.

In a recent message to Congress, President Johnson noted that within 40 years urban America will have to be rebuilt to meet the challenge of industrial expansion and population growth. In line with this prophecy, Basil Zimmer analyzes the impact of expanding public works. In Rebuilding Cities, the author brings together important data concerning the impact of urban renewal and highway programs on some 300 business establish- ments in Providence, Rhode Island. The disruptive effects of these two public programs have serious consequences, offer- ing exciting opportunities for improve- ment for some and hardship and anxiety for others. The lower level of the busi- ness community receives the brunt of “progress”4f that it be.

The author clearly delineates the profile of displaced small businesses : generally the marginal producer, those smaller in size, operated by an older age group with more limited experience and education. Those who survive the impact of govern- ment urban renewal and highway pro- grams and who in fact experience im- provement and growth are, to a large extent, the bigger among the small busi- ness enterprises. Paradoxically, these are

19651 BOOKS IN REVIEW 339

the very establishments which join the exodus to suburbia. I n other words, the loss to the core city is significant-a loss in taxable property and a source of employment. The disruption weighs more heavily on the service and food-related retail units, among which are the neigh- borhood stores which serve a particular ethnic or racial clientele.

To those eagerly helping to rebuild cities, this book serves as a reminder that what is being done must be evaluated in terms of such dimensions as Mr. Zimmer has suggested: the impact on the city and the human beings involved.

Political Science AMERICAN GOVERNMENT: THE CLASH

OF ISSUES. (Second edition.) Edited by James A. Burkhart, Henry C. Bush, Samuel Krislov and Raymond L. Lee. Prentice-Hall, Inc., Englewood Cliffs, New Jersey 07632. xix, 455 pp. $3.95.

Stating that, “A recognition that con- troversy and disagreement are natural parts of the democratic process and that their absence rather than their presence should cause alarm,” the editors of this fascinating work on American govern- ment proceed to present a wide array of opinion. Examples of the various view- points range from Eric Hoffer’s “There’s Nothing Wrong with the Raw Material of Democracy” and James Reston’s “And There’s Nothing Wrong with the Demo- cratic Response” to Mao Tse-Tung’s “The Case for Control and Direction.”

On other fronts James Jackson Kil- patrick pontificates on “The Sovereign States,” while Edward W. Weidner pro- claims “There Is No State Point of View.” Raymond Moley assails federal aid to states in “How to Keep Our Liberty” and Senator Wayne Morse presents the other side in “The Mis- takes of the Ultra-Conservative States’ Righters.”

The book is obviously intended for classroom use and makes a good text for

exploring many facets of our govern- mental system and the problems con- fronting the country. It is also just plain interesting to anyone who enjoys reading some good debates on fundamental issues.

W. J.D.B.

Additional Books and Pamphlets

(See a h hearcher‘a Dig& and other departments)

Assessments PROCEEDINGS OF THE SIXTH ANNUAL

CONFERENCE FOR SOUTH DAKOTA ASSESS- ING OFFICERS. Edited by Alan L. Clem. Governmental Research Bureau, Univer- sity of South Dakota, Vermillion, No- vember 1964. viii, 132 pp. Tables.

Bonds and Debt STATE REGULATION OF LOCAL INDEBTED-

NESS IN THE UNITFLJ STATES. By Leonard E. Goodall. Bureau of Government Re- search, Arizona State University, Tempe, 1964. 79 pp. Tables. $1.50.

The City

ARE CITIES HERE TO STAY? By Ed- ward F. R. Hearle. The RAND Cor- poration, 1700 Main Street, Santa Monica, California 90406, 1963. 14 pp. Tables. $1.00.

A WORLD OF CITIES: A Cross-Cultural Urban Bibliography. Edited by Robert Lorenz, Paul Meadows and Warner Bloomberg, Jr. Center for Overseas Operations and Research, Maxwell Grad- uate School of Citizenship and Public Affairs, Syracuse University, Syracuse, New York, June 1964. 153 pp.

Civil Rights

EQUAL OPPORTUNITY IN HOSPITALS AND HWTH FACILITIES. Civil Rights Policies under the Hill-Burton Program.