MixedThe New York Times Book Review... some readers will see the book as an effort to recover space for a style of business-friendly liberalism increasingly beleaguered on the national scene ... Still, marshaling a host of fascinating case studies and drawing on the work of the political theorist Benjamin Barber and others, Emanuel makes a strong case for the vitality of local governance in an age of dysfunction ... Emanuel’s critics will find his treatments of his hugely controversial school closings and the police murder of Laquan McDonald evasive and unconvincing. More broadly, his \'progressive cities\' framework fails to grapple fully with the way contemporary urban inequality is reproduced through the deeply embedded legacy of racist city-making — from redlining to racially disparate policing ... In an age of national irresponsibility, cities represent a vital resource. With its command of the details of urban governance and its manifest appreciation for what cities can offer, The Nation City helps us understand why Americans are increasingly looking to mayors for political leadership. But until its proponents engage fully with the dynamics of race and class that continue to shape American cities, the progressive cities framework will remain at best an aspiration and at worst a cover story.
