Contents
List of Tables
List of Maps
List of Illustrations
Preface
Acknowledgments
Part I. On the Historical Study of Power
Chapter 1. Contemporary Perceptions, Historical Problems
Genteel Decline, Patrician Elitism, Economic Elitism, Government by Syndicate, and Other Perceptions
Power and the Historians
The Analysis of Major Decisions
Greater New York as a Decision-Making Arena
Part II. Greater New York, 1880-1910
Chapter 2. Economic Change and Continuity
Merchants, Bankers, and Manufacturers: The Impact of the Corporation
Business and Professional Services: The Proliferation of Expertise
Municipal Laissez-faire vs. Municipal Mercantilism
Chapter 3. Social Transformations
Light, Shadow, and Moving Up: Contemporary Perceptions of New York Society
Five Social Elites
White-Collar Workers and Entrepreneurs
Manual Workers
Artisan-Republican Rhetoric, the Sporting Style, the Kingdom of God, and Other Political Strategies
Part III. Mayoral Politics
Chapter 4. Tradition and Reality
Four Campaign Scenes
Factions and Rules
Chapter 5. Economic Elites and Mayoral Politics
The Era of the Swallowtail Democrats
Fragmentation
The Fusion Era
Chapter 6. Non-Economic Elites and Mayoral Politics
Tammany Hall: The Rise of the Professional Politican
Organized Labor
The Transformation of Mayoral Politics, 1870-1903
Part IV. Major Policy Decisions
Chapter 7. Urbanization Policy: The Creation of Greater New York
Placing Consolidation on the Agenda
The Pro-consolidation Coalition
Referendum
Brooklyn Opposition
Boss Platt, Governor Morton, and the Legislature
A Temporary Resolution: The Greater New York Charter of 1898
Conclusion
Chapter 8. Economic Policy: Planning the First Subway
Early Proposals for Rapid Transit
Institutional, Technological, Physical, and Public Opinion Constraints before 1894
The Argument for Public Finance
Legal and Financial Constraints, 1894-1900
Conclusion
Chapter 9. Cultural Policy: Centralizing the Public School System
The Public School System and Its Critics, 1888-1894
The Pro-centralization Coalition
School Centralization as a Republican Measure
Centralization and School Reform
Conclusion
Part V. The Distribution of Power in Greater New York
Chapter 10. Competing Elites and the Dispersal of Power
The Distribution of Resources
The Distribution of Power
The Inadequacy of Indirect Evidence
The Increasing Dispersal of Power in the Cities of the United States during the Twentieth Century
Notes
Bibliographic Essay
Index