ABSTRACT
This conclusion presents some closing thoughts on the concepts covered in the preceding chapters of this book. The book provides neither the “broad and incisive analysis” nor the “impressive, new understanding of three decades” that its jacket blurb proclaims. It deals with incautious choices of language and misassumptions. Discussion of women’s influence in office is plagued by unreasonable expectations: for example, presidential appointees are customarily beholden to the president’s program. The book offers so much in thematic value, ideas, insights, and details that the work has surpassed all would-be contenders. Reform of urban political structures, while overtly aimed at achieving “good government,” has often masked shifts in group representation. In the early days, Progressive reformers clearly and openly sought to limit the influence of working-class and immigrant neighborhoods through nonpartisanship and at-large elections. City councils have been severely neglected in the study of representation.
