Download or read book The American Mayor written by Melvin G. Holli and published by Penn State Press. This book was released on 1999 with total page 226 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt:

Download or read book A Mayor s Life written by David N Dinkins and published by PublicAffairs. This book was released on 2013-09-17 with total page 410 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: How did a scrawny black kid -- the son of a barber and a domestic who grew up in Harlem and Trenton -- become the 106th mayor of New York City? It's a remarkable journey. David Norman Dinkins was born in 1927, joined the Marine Corps in the waning days of World War II, went to Howard University on the G.I. Bill, graduated cum laude with a degree in mathematics in 1950, and married Joyce Burrows, whose father, Daniel Burrows, had been a state assemblyman well-versed in the workings of New York's political machine. It was his father-in-law who suggested the young mathematician might make an even better politician once he also got his law degree. The political career of David Dinkins is set against the backdrop of the rising influence of a broader demographic in New York politics, including far greater segments of the city's "gorgeous mosaic." After a brief stint as a New York assemblyman, Dinkins was nominated as a deputy mayor by Abe Beame in 1973, but ultimately declined because he had not filed his income tax returns on time. Down but not out, he pursued his dedication to public service, first by serving as city clerk. In 1986, Dinkins was elected Manhattan borough president, and in 1989, he defeated Ed Koch and Rudy Giuliani to become mayor of New York City, the largest American city to elect an African American mayor. As the newly-elected mayor of a city in which crime had risen precipitously in the years prior to his taking office, Dinkins vowed to attack the problems and not the victims. Despite facing a budget deficit, he hired thousands of police officers, more than any other mayoral administration in the twentieth century, and launched the "Safe Streets, Safe City" program, which fundamentally changed how police fought crime. For the first time in decades, crime rates began to fall -- a trend that continues to this day. Among his other major successes, Mayor Dinkins brokered a deal that kept the US Open Tennis Championships in New York -- bringing hundreds of millions of dollars to the city annually -- and launched the revitalization of Times Square after decades of decay, all the while deflecting criticism and some outright racism with a seemingly unflappable demeanor. Criticized by some for his handling of the Crown Heights riots in 1991, Dinkins describes in these pages a very different version of events. A Mayor's Life is a revealing look at a devoted public servant and a New Yorker in love with his city, who led that city during tumultuous times.

Download or read book Mayor for Life written by Marion Barry and published by Simon and Schuster. This book was released on 2014-06-17 with total page 352 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Four-time mayor of Washington, D.C., Marion Barry, Jr. tells his shocking and courageous life story, beginning in the cotton fields in Mississippi to the executive offices of one of the most powerful cities in the world. Marion Barry fought relentlessly in his life and his career. A near-life threatening bullet wound to the chest, a survivor of cancer, allegations of drug use, political scandal—he had an incredible story to tell. This provocative, captivating narrative follows the Civil Rights activist, going back to his Mississippi roots, his Memphis upbringing, and his academic school days, up through his college years and move to Washington, D.C., where he became actively involved in Civil Rights, community activism, and bold politics. In the New York Times bestseller, Mayor for Life, Marion Barry Jr. tells all—including the story of his campaigns for mayor of Washington, his ultimate rise to power, his personal struggles and downfalls, and the night of embarrassment, followed by his term in federal prison and ultimately a victorious fourth term as mayor. From the man who, despite the setbacks, boldly served the community of Washington, DC, this is his full story of courage, empowerment, hope, tragedy, triumph, and inspiration.

Download or read book The Ungovernable City written by Vincent Cannato and published by . This book was released on 2009-07-21 with total page 730 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Vincent Cannato takes us back to the time when John Lindsay stunned New York with his liberal Republican agenda, WASP sensibility, and movie-star good looks. With peerless authority, Cannato explores how Lindsay Liberalism failed to save New York, and, in the opinion of many, left it worse off than it was in the mid-1960's.

Download or read book London s Mayor at 20 written by Jack Brown and published by Biteback Publishing. This book was released on 2020-11-24 with total page 241 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: This year, London's elected mayor and assembly turn twenty. But has London's mayoralty lived up to the expectations that were set for it? Have its three mayors been able to get to grips with the city's challenges? How have they responded to crises in the past – and what does the future hold? This important new book marks the twentieth anniversary of London's mayor and assembly and investigates the relative successes and challenges of the mayoralty to date, before asking what comes next for London. It combines analysis by experts with reflections from those closely involved in setting up, running and working with the Greater London Authority, alongside those who have held the position of Mayor of London themselves.

Download or read book The Power of the Mayor written by Chris McNickle and published by Transaction Publishers. This book was released on 2012-12-31 with total page 407 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Chris McNickle argues that New York City Mayor David Dinkins failed to wield the power of the mayor with the skill required to run the city. His Tammany clubhouse heritage and liberal political philosophy made him the wrong man for the time. His deliberate style of decision-making left the government he led lacking in direction. His courtly demeanor and formal personal style alienated him from the people he served while the multi-racial coalition he forged as New York’s first African-American mayor weakened over time. Dinkins did have a number of successes. He balanced four budgets and avoided a fiscal takeover by the unelected New York State Financial Control Board. Major crime dropped 14 percent and murders fell by more than 12 percent. Dinkins helped initiate important structural changes to the ungovernable school system he inherited. His administration reconfigured health care for the poor and improved access to medical treatment for impoverished New Yorkers. McNickle argues that David Dinkins has received less credit than he is due for his successes because they were overshadowed by his failure to fulfill his promise to guide the city to racial harmony. This stimulating review of a transitional period in New York City’s history offers perspective on what it takes to lead and govern.

Download or read book MAYOR written by Edward I. Koch and published by Simon & Schuster. This book was released on 2007-11-02 with total page 0 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Only Ed Koch could have written Mayor. It is the liveliest, most gripping, most outspoken and most authentic book ever written about government. Mayor is the frank, feisty, no-holds-barred account of what it's like to run the greatest city in the world, written with the irrepressible honesty, anecdotal humor and tough-minded compassion that make the Mayor - and the city he governs - unique.

Download or read book In the Shadow of Statues written by Mitch Landrieu and published by Penguin. This book was released on 2019-03-19 with total page 242 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The New Orleans mayor who removed the Confederate statues confronts the racism that shapes us and argues for white America to reckon with its past. A passionate, personal, urgent book from the man who sparked a national debate. "There is a difference between remembrance of history and reverence for it." When Mitch Landrieu addressed the people of New Orleans in May 2017 about his decision to take down four Confederate monuments, including the statue of Robert E. Lee, he struck a nerve nationally, and his speech has now been heard or seen by millions across the country. In his first book, Mayor Landrieu discusses his personal journey on race as well as the path he took to making the decision to remove the monuments, tackles the broader history of slavery, race and institutional inequities that still bedevil America, and traces his personal relationship to this history. His father, as state legislator and mayor, was a huge force in the integration of New Orleans in the 1960s and 19070s. Landrieu grew up with a progressive education in one of the nation's most racially divided cities, but even he had to relearn Southern history as it really happened. Equal parts unblinking memoir, history, and prescription for finally confronting America's most painful legacy, In the Shadow of Statues contributes strongly to the national conversation about race in the age of Donald Trump, at a time when racism is resurgent with seemingly tacit approval from the highest levels of government and when too many Americans have a misplaced nostalgia for a time and place that never existed.

Download or read book Gnarr written by Jon Gnarr and published by Melville House. This book was released on 2014-06-24 with total page 194 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: In the epicenter of the world financial crisis, a comedian launched a joke campaign that didn’t seem so funny to the country’s leading politicians . . . It all started when Jón Gnarr founded the Best Party in 2009 to satirize his country’s political system. The financial collapse in Iceland had, after all, precipitated the world-wide meltdown, and fomented widespread protest over the country’s leadership. Entering the race for mayor of Reykjavík, Iceland’s capital, Gnarr promised to get the dinosaurs from Jurassic Park into downtown parks, free towels at public swimming pools, a “drug-free Parliament by 2020” . . . and he swore he’d break all his campaign promises. But then something strange started happening: his campaign began to succeed. And in the party’s electoral debut, the Best Party emerged as the biggest winner. Gnarr promptly proposed a coalition government, although he ruled out partners who had not seen all five seasons of The Wire. And just like that, a man whose previous foreign-relations experience consisted of a radio show (in which he regularly crank-called the White House and police stations in the Bronx to see if they had found his lost wallet) was soon meeting international leaders and being taken seriously as the mayor of a European capital. Here, Gnarr recounts how it all happened and, with admirable candor, describes his vision of a more enlightened politics for the future. The point, he writes, is not to be afraid to get involved—or to take on the system.

Download or read book The Napoleon of New York written by H. Paul Jeffers and published by John Wiley & Sons. This book was released on 2002-06-18 with total page 402 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Praise for H. Paul Jeffers Diamond Jim Brady: Prince of the Gilded Age "One of the most entertaining historical business narratives in recent memory. The story of this symbol of America's Gilded Age is filled with such gusto and vigor that even hardcore business readers will be swept away." -Publishers Weekly "Superb historical biography of one of the more colorful characters in American history . . . spirited. . . . Jeffers deftly weaves together intriguing stage-setting explanations of the age of robber barons, the crash of 1893, and that unforgettable era of unbridled wealth for the few in 1890s New York. As this marvelous story reveals, Brady's lavish lifestyle embodies America's Gilded Age. Highly recommended for all libraries." -Library Journal An Honest President: The Life and Presidencies of Grover Cleveland "A well-written and timely book that reminds us of Grover Cleveland's courage, commitment, and honesty at a time when these qualities are so lacking in so much of American politics." -James MacGregor Burns, winner of the Pulitzer Prize and National Book Award Colonel Roosevelt: Theodore Roosevelt Goes to War, 1897--1898 "A handsome narrative of a crucial period in the career of one of our country's most colorful politicians." -Publishers Weekly

Download or read book America s Mayor written by Rob Polner and published by . This book was released on 2005 with total page 186 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Rudy Guliani's flinty response to the 9/11 attacks has made him a national hero and has done wonderful things for his future prospects in American politics. But the outpouring of praise for his performance has obscured uncomfortable facts about Guliani. This book collects the original essays and reports from some of New York's most perceptive authors on Guliani's two terms as mayor. Few of the writers have any illusions about his turbulent reign and offer an informative and entertaining corrective to today's simplistic celebration of America's Mayor.

Download or read book Politics written by Edward I. Koch and published by Simon and Schuster. This book was released on 2011-06-28 with total page 360 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: POLITICS is "the science and art of political government." It is also "factional scheming for power and status within a group" and "crafty or unprincipled methods." That's the Webster definition. It is all of that and more...

Download or read book A Prayer for the City written by Buzz Bissinger and published by Vintage. This book was released on 2015-04-15 with total page 445 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: From the Pulitzer Prize-winning author of Friday Night Lights, the heart-wrenching and hilarious true story of an American city on its knees and a man who will do anything to save it. A Prayer for the City is acclaimed journalist Buzz Bissinger's true epic of Philadelphia mayor Ed Rendell, an utterly unique, unorthodox, and idiosyncratic leader willing to go to any length for the sake of his city: take unions head on, personally lobby President Clinton to save 10,000 defense jobs, or wrestle Smiley the Pig on Hot Dog Day—all the while bearing in mind the eternal fickleness of constituents whose favor may hinge on a missed garbage pick-up or an overzealous meter maid. It is also the story of citizens in crisis: a woman fighting ceaselessly to give her great-grandchildren a better life, a father of six who may lose his job at the Navy Shipyard, and a policy analyst whose experiences as a crime victim tempt her to abandon her job and ideals. "Fascinating, humane" (The New Yorker) and alive with detail and insight, A Prayer for the City describes the rare combination of political courage and optimism that may be the only hope for America's urban centers.

Download or read book One More Time written by Mike Royko and published by University of Chicago Press. This book was released on 2000-05-15 with total page 310 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Culled from 7,500 columns and spanning four decades, the writings in this collection reflect a radically changing America as seen by a man whose keen sense of justice and humor never faltered. 11 halftones.

Download or read book The Mayor of Zalamea written by Pedro Calderón de la Barca and published by Dramatic Publishing. This book was released on 1990 with total page 140 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt:

Download or read book Pothole Confidential written by R.T. Rybak and published by U of Minnesota Press. This book was released on 2016-04-22 with total page 455 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: A pajama party at the Minneapolis–St. Paul International Airport inadvertently helped launch R.T. Rybak’s political career (imagine a rumba line one hundred protesters long chanting, “We deserve to sleep, hey!”), but his earliest lessons in leadership occurred during his childhood. Growing up in a middle-class neighborhood, attending private school with students who had much more than he did, spending evenings at his family’s store in an area where people lived with much less, he witnessed firsthand the opportunity and injustice of the city he called home. In a memoir that is at once a political coming-of-age story and a behind-the-scenes look at the running of a great city, the three-term mayor takes readers into the highs and lows and the daily drama of a life inextricably linked with Minneapolis over the past fifty years. With refreshing candor and insight, Rybak describes his path through journalism, marketing, and community activism that led to his unlikely (to him, at least) primary election—on September 11, 2001. His personal account of the challenges and crises confronting the city over twelve years, including the tragic collapse of the I-35W bridge, the rising scourge of youth violence, and the bruising fight over a ban on gay marriage (with Rybak himself conducting the first such ceremony at City Hall on August 1, 2013), is also an illuminating, often funny depiction of learning the workings of the job, frequently on the fly, while trying to keep up with his most important constituency, his family. As bracing as the “fresh air” campaign that swept him into office, Rybak’s memoir is that rare document from a politician: one more concerned with the people he served and the issues of his time than with burnishing his own credentials. As such, it reflects what leadership truly looks like.

Download or read book The Book of Unknown Americans written by Cristina Henríquez and published by Vintage. This book was released on 2014-06-03 with total page 251 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: A stunning novel of hopes and dreams, guilt and love—a book that offers a resonant new definition of what it means to be American and "illuminates the lives behind the current debates about Latino immigration" (The New York Times Book Review). When fifteen-year-old Maribel Rivera sustains a terrible injury, the Riveras leave behind a comfortable life in Mexico and risk everything to come to the United States so that Maribel can have the care she needs. Once they arrive, it’s not long before Maribel attracts the attention of Mayor Toro, the son of one of their new neighbors, who sees a kindred spirit in this beautiful, damaged outsider. Their love story sets in motion events that will have profound repercussions for everyone involved. Here Henríquez seamlessly interweaves the story of these star-crossed lovers, and of the Rivera and Toro families, with the testimonials of men and women who have come to the United States from all over Latin America.