The Future Once Happened Here: New York, D.C., L.A., and the Fate of America's Big Cities

Fred Siegel loves cities but hates what has happened to them since the 1960s. Overreaching economic policies have strangled businesses and destroyed jobs. Libertine social philosophies have allowed public order to disappear. Racial antagonisms have corroded a sense of common culture. Siegel--a New Yorker with New Democrat politics--makes a strong case for why cities have declined, yet his book is not entirely gloomy. He believes that after three decades of failed public policy, America's urban centers may finally be headed toward a revival. An invigorating piece of social and political analysis, The Future Once Happened Here is the best book on U.S. cities to come along in years.