Neighborhood Government: The Local Foundations of Political Life

At a time of intense urban civil unrest in the United States, this classic text by Milton Kotler was the first to forcefully demonstrate how governance on the neighborhood level could allow Americans to regain liberty and the right to govern their own lives. Kotler's original project showed how towns—once independent but then later annexed by adjacent cities—became exploited by centralized downtown power. As relevant today as it was when originally published in 1969, Neighborhood Government continues to speak to American cities whose faces have been radically changed by immigration, urban sprawl, and communities fractured by pervasive economic and racial inequality. With a new critical foreword by Terry L. Cooper that places the text within contemporary debates and a new foreword and afterword from the author, Neighborhood Government continues to be a vital work for anyone interested in the economic, social, and political health of American cities and the continuing struggle to increase community investment and control.