Description
Book SynopsisOriginally published in 1984. In 1888 the British observer James Bryce declared the government of cities to be the one conspicuous failure of the United States. During the following two decades, urban reformers would repeat Bryce's words with ritualistic regularity; nearly a century later, his comment continues to set the tone for most assessments of nineteenth-century city government. Yet by the end of the century, as Jon Teaford argues in this important reappraisal, American cities boasted the most abundant water supplies, brightest street lights, grandest parks, largest public libraries, and most efficient systems of transportation in the world. Far from being a conspicuous failure, municipal governments of the late nineteenth century had successfully met challenges of an unprecedented magnitude and complexity. The Unheralded Triumph draws together the histories of the most important cities of the Gilded Ageespecially New York, Chicago, Boston, Philadelphia, St. Louis, and Baltimore
Table of ContentsList of Tables
Acknowledgments
Chapter 1. Trumpeted Failures and Unheralded Triumphs
Part I. The Structure of Urban Rule
Chapter 2. Neighborhood Power: The City Council
Chapter 3. The Respectable Rulers: Executive Officers and Independent Commissions
Chapter 4. State Legislatures and Urban America
Chapter 5. Reforming the City-State Relationship
Chapter 6. The Professionals
Chapter 7. Bosses and Businessmen: Extralegal Molders of Municipal Rule
Part II. The Functions and Finances of Urban Government
Chapter 8. The Triumph of Technology
Chapter 9. Creating a Humane and Ordered Environment
Chapter 10. Boom, Bust, and Urban Rule: Financing City Government
Chapter 11. Triumph with the Taste of Defeat
Notes
Index
