Staten Island is New York City’s smallest yet fastest growing
borough: a conservative, suburban community of nearly a half a million
on the fringe of the nation’s most liberal, global city. Staten
Island: Conservative Bastion in a Liberal City chronicles how this
“forgotten borough” has grappled with its uneasy relationship with
the rest of the City of New York since the 1920s. Daniel C. Kramer and
Richard M. Flanagan analyze the politics behind events that have
shaped the borough, such as the opening of the Verrazano Bridge and
the closure of the Fresh Kills Landfill. Lost opportunities are
discussed, including the failure to construct a rail link to the other
boroughs of New York, to adequately plan for the explosive housing
boom in recent decades and, some say, to create an independent City of
Staten Island. Unlike much of New York City, Staten Island is a place
with robust party competition and lively democratic politics with
hard-fought campaigns, bitter feuds, and career-ending scandals.
Staten Island’s two most successful politicians of the twentieth
century—Republicans John Marchi and Guy Molinari—defended the
borough’s interests while defining an urban conservativism that
would influence politics elsewhere. In fact, Staten Island has played
a pivotal role in the winning electoral coalitions of Republican
mayors Rudy Giuliani and Michael Bloomberg and continues to spark the
imaginations of New Yorkers on a scale that is disproportionate to the
borough’s relatively small size. Staten Island: Conservative Bastion
in a Liberal City will allow readers to gain access to the
borough-based roots of New York City’s politics. This book will be
of special interest to anyone who wishes to understand the dynamics of
middle-class life and democratic representation in a global city.
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Produktdetaljer
ISBN
9780761858324
Publisert
2012
Utgiver
Vendor
University Press Of America
Språk
Product language
Engelsk
Format
Product format
Digital bok
Forfatter