Saving America's Cities

"[Cohen] has not only taken the measure of a complicated man, but also provided an incisive treatment of the entire urban-planning world in America in the last half of the 20th century . . . [She] has created a more enlightening book than has appeared on this topic in quite some time."—Alan Ehrenhalt, The New York Times

"Kudos to Harvard professor Lizabeth Cohen for exhuming the cantankerous, ambitious and idealistic Logue in her charming and successful biography-cum-urban affairs history . . . Ms. Cohen ennobles [Logue's] life story, telling it as an impassioned crusade for things that sound old-fashioned now but were and are worth caring about: racial and socioeconomic integration of neighborhoods; respectable public housing for lower-income Americans; and social services and decent schooling for all . . . Engrossing."—Alex Beam, The Wall Street Journal

"More than a biography . . . Today, when inequality is on the rise, Saving America’s Cities warns against easy solutions while offering hope that people can improve the places where we live—and with that, people’s lives."—Ann Forsyth, Harvard Magazine

"Is it possible to write not only a good book about urban renewal but also a beautiful one? If you are Lizabeth Cohen, it is. Saving America's Cities is, at once, a new, wise and more balanced take on past efforts to save America's cities and a fascinating portrait of Ed Logue, a central figure in urban policy whose personal trajectory parallels the course of our debates over what works, and what doesn't. If you care about cities, you should read this book. But you should also read it if you simply love a great story full of compelling characters engaged in high-stakes struggles. It's a wonderful achievement."—E. J. Dionne, Jr., author of Our Divided Political Heart, Why the Right Went Wrong and co-author of One Nation After Trump

“Saving America’s Cities is a richly documented account of Ed Logue’s remarkable career. Lizabeth Cohen captures the sense of public purpose and possibility as well as the political battles that made this a distinctive era in the history of American city building. An impressive achievement that speaks to all who care about the fortunes of urban America—past, present, and future."—Alice O'Connor, Professor and Director, University of California–Santa Barbara Blum Center on Global Poverty Alleviation and Sustainable Development

"In some ways, Edward Logue was an imperial master builder, a latter-day version of Robert Moses. But in others—particularly in his abiding concern for the welfare of our cities’ poor and powerless—he could not have been more different. Lizabeth Cohen’s penetrating study of the man and his era sees both Logue and the post-war urban America he tried to rebuild clearly, and persuasively. It’s quite a story, very well told."—Daniel Okrent, author of The Guarded Gate and Last Call

"This captivating biography of Ed Logue explains how a largely-forgotten liberal power broker made a profound but little-known impact on the urban landscape we still inhabit. One of our most distinguished historians, Lizabeth Cohen illuminates the struggle to make cities both viable and democratic that shaped postwar America. At a time when ordinary people can barely afford to live in America’s biggest cities, Cohen’s book is a necessary book to read."—Michael Kazin, Professor of History, Georgetown University, and author of War Against War: The American Fight for Peace, 1914-1918

"For a few decades near the end of the twentieth century, the United States embraced the idea that it was the government’s responsibility to rebuild the country’s deteriorating cities. In her vividly told and meticulously researched biography of Edward Logue, the high-flying master rebuilder of East Coast cities, Lizabeth Cohen has brought this vanished era fully back to life, and persuasively demanded a new respect for its achievements."—Nicholas Lemann, Joseph Pulitzer II and Edith Pulitzer Moore Professor of Journalism, Columbia University, and author of Transaction Man

"Lizabeth Cohen's Saving America's Cities is an engaging and well-crafted book that brilliantly captures the important legacy of the urban planner Edward J. Logue. I learned a great deal reading her compelling story, which provides a fresh reexamination of postwar urban renewal, and suggests how American cities can be made more dynamic and equitable."—William Julius Wilson, Lewis P. and Linda L. Geyser University Professor, Harvard University, and author of The Truly Disadvantaged: The Inner City, the Underclass, and Public Policy

"In this myth-shattering book, Liz Cohen offers an important reassessment of urban renewal in postwar America. Clear-eyed and convincing, Saving America’s Cities not only accounts for the failures of federal policies in this period but also salvages the often-overlooked success stories as well. In the end, Cohen makes great use of the past to suggest new paths for the future."—Kevin M. Kruse, Professor of History, Princeton University

"In this deeply researched work, Cohen skillfully chronicles Logue's rise and fall . . . A robust, richly documented biography."—Kirkus Reviews

"One of America’s most controversial policies as seen through the career of one of its most outspoken advocates; an essential read."—Library Journal (starred review)