Throughout the twentieth century New York City has been the center for the liberal impulse in America. In the 1960s New York moved squarely centerstage with expansive antipoverty programs, generous welfare and housing supports, a rapidly expanding university system, massive free health care—until the liberal government collapses under all this weight in the financial debacle of 1975.
This book is about public policy making in New York during the zenith of the great liberal experiment, from 1960, Mayor Robert Wagner's third term, through John V. Lindsay, Abraham Beame, and, finally, to Edward Koch and the inevitable return of fiscal conservatism.
The bigger they come the harder they fall. When New York City fell and its intricate, often exotic, budget gimmickry came unstuck, they foundations of every other large city in America shook. If we are not to relive this history it is important to learn the lessons taught so cogently and entertainingly in this book.