Books (editor)

The Urban Underclass. Christopher Jencks, Paul Peterson. Brookings Institution Press, 508 pages. 1991.

The essays in this book try to separate the truth about poverty, social dislocation, and changes in America family life from the myths that have become part of contemporary folklore.

Can the Government Govern?. John E. Chubb, Paul Peterson. Brookings Institution Press, 320 pages. 1989.

Effective government requires that institutions be strong enough to control the efforts of organized, entrenched special interests in favor of the broader interests shared but poorly articulated by most members of society. Recent changes in our institutions and in the problems they face raise doubts about the capacity of contemporary American government to handle these parochial forces. Congress has seemingly become more fragmented, the presidency more politicized, and the bureaucracy more labyrinthine.

The New Direction in American Politics. John E. Chubb, Paul Peterson. Brookings Institution Press, 409 pages. 1985.

Path-breaking, defining, early study of the Reagan revolution in American politics.

The New Urban Reality. Paul Peterson. Brookings Institution Press, 301 pages. 1985.

America's inner cities, particularly those in older industrial metropolitan areas, have declined sharply in both population and employment over the past two decades. How much of this change is due to technological advances in transportation, communication, and manufacturing? How much of it is due to the changing racial composition of the central cities? Can any set of public policies retard or reverse the decline of the industrial cities?This book presents an interdisciplinary collection of papers addressing these questions. In the introduction, editor Paul E.

Urban Politics and Public Policy: The City in Crisis. Stephen M. David, Paul Peterson. Praeger, 1973; 2nd edition Praeger, 1976. 1976.