A city transformed : redevelopment, race, and suburbanization in Lancaster, Pennsylvania, 1940-1980 /

Schuyler (American studies, Franklin & Marshall College) deals with a particular problem: the older medium-sized city and its attempt to revive its central business district and simultaneously face its housing shortfalls. As the subtitle indicates, the book is limited in its chronological scope (1940-80), or, to put it differently, it covers the New Deal to the final demise of federal policies dealing directly with housing and other forms of urban renewal. By the third decade of the 20th century, Lancaster had all the problems associated with urban areas. This well-focused case study surveys how the political leadership of one city went about using, and fighting, various federal programs for replacing substandard housing, from the Depression to the suburban age. A concomitant factor, here as elsewhere, was the ghettoization of these areas. Similarly, Schuyler details the travails of trying to revive a downtown in the age of the shopping mall, clearly describing the process and its basic failures. This case study will be useful to more advanced students and professionals interested in comparative studies. ^BSumming Up: Recommended. Upper-division undergraduates and above. I. Cohen emeritus, Illinois State University