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(More customer reviews)When Ed Rendell took office, he promised that he would work overtime to saving Philadelphia. From that moment on, Buzz Bissinger was there to record his successes and failures. His new journalism prose not only tells Rendell's story, but takes the reader through the process by which this once-great American city has withered under the pressures of crime, poverty, drugs, unemployment, and population loss. Bissinger explains, in part, why people leave the city for the suburbs and how the Federal government's urban policy has favored suburban sprawl and encouraged a white flight during the past 50 years. Through the eyes of a ship-yard worker, a dedicated preacher, a city prosecutor, and a hopeful woman who moves to the city in the hope of preserving it, Bissinger adds the voices of common folks to his narrative. But, in the end, the book blends hope and despair. In spite of his efforts, Rendell's work is not enough. A mayor alone cannot save the city, so long as his ideas are held hostage by the recalcitrant forces of greedy unions and politicos who owe their careers to demagoguery and racially divisive politics. Bissinger doesn't pull any punches in this area: he talks not only about corrupt cops, but about the leaders in Philadelphia's ethnic communities who refuse to cooperate with Rendell because they'd rather reap political gain by publicly parting with him. In the end, it is clear that even though Rendell is the hardest working mayor in the city's history, even he can't do enough. It will not only take a reform-minded mayor and administration, but a willing citizenry and a serious alteration in Federal and State policy before we can revitalize the American city. But electing Ed Rendell seems like the best possible start, and a refreshing contrast to the out-of-touch political operatives who regularly grace our newsprint and televisions.
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