Unheavenly City Revisited

Poverty. Illiteracy. Crime. Unemployment. Riots.Big cities so often appear to have terrible problems, andAmericans have a long history of convincing themselves that urban areas are incrises and that the federal government must do something to improve matters.Edward C. Banfield argues the conventional wisdom isincorrect. In The Unheavenly City Revisited, he presents rigorousanalyses showing that by any conceivable measure of material welfare thepresent generation of urban Americans is, on the whole, better off than anyother large group of people has ever been anywhere. He furthermore argues thatthere is little evidence that the billions of dollars of government spending isimproving matters. Indeed, well-intended government actions have proved harmfulin some instances.The Unheavenly City Revisited cautions policymakers thattheir biases may affect their perceptions of Americas metropolitan areas.Improving the lives of people in cities through government action is anexceedingly complex enterprise. Government officials and citizens alike must berealists about what government action can achieve.