Review by Choice Review
Rescuing "the fixer" from the bowels of urban political history, Rabig (history, Dartmouth) reframes the black freedom struggle in Newark, NJ, during the 1960s and 1970s. Her radical reformers "blur[red] the lines between protest and politics, between radical and moderate, between the public realm of legislation and elections and the quasi-private realm of civic associations, unions, businesses, churches, and non-profits" in endeavoring "to create equitable cities." The author begins with the now-familiar fight over urban renewal construction jobs and connects it to the efforts of Newark residents to reimagine politics and "fix" their city following the 1967 uprising. By carefully measuring their potent mixture of radical protest with backroom dealing, Rabig allows readers to see how fixers sought self-determination and to meet immediate needs for housing and jobs. The book builds its final section, three compelling chapters on three very distinctive community development corporations, all of which embodied "a fixer ethos that shaped urban development on a national scale even as they remained locally focused." Rabig convincingly argues that these organizations, more than harbingers of privatized welfare provision, represented the holistic responses of Newark residents to the urban crisis. Summing Up: Recommended. Upper-division undergraduates and above. --Peter Pihos, Duke University
Copyright American Library Association, used with permission.
Review by Choice Review
