5 of 5 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars
Albany's King, August 25, 2004
This is a fascinating political biography of the man who served as mayor of Albany for over 40 years.' as such he was the longest serving mayor of any major American city.
Mr. Grondahl offers his readers a lengthy over 500 page study of Mr. Corning. The volume is accompanied by a fine bibliography and end notes.
Corning was an unsual big city politico, a true American aristocrat a descendant of an old American railroad and banking family, who graduated Groton and Yale, who chose to allign himself with the old line working class Democratic Irish political machine in Albany which under the leadership of Dan McConnel which dominated Albany for most of the 20th century.
This book explores Cornings life and career. We have chapters dedicated to his patrimony, his years at Groton and Yale, his time in the US Army, his lifeas a summer resident in Maine.
We also learn much about his private life his marriage , his 2 children and his second family the Noonan's wife husband and children.After I finished reading this monograph I felt I knew Corning very very well.
While the author certainly does deal with Corning's service as mayor and his potiical life, there are many notable omissions in this otherwise fine study.
We learn very little about the changing landscape of the Albany political scene. Like all cities Albany gained a large Black population in the 1950's . What was the relatioship between Corning and his handlers to this group. This is dealt with in several paragraphs, wheras Corning the sportsman and fisherman gets at least a whole chapter.In general the new dynamics between the Wasp class, the old immigrant groups and the new minority groups are hardly discussed,
After reading the book I have to presume that labor unions did not exist in Albany as they are hardly mentioned, except for a critical effort by the local firemen to unionize and labor problems in the building of South Mall. But were Albany's civil servants unionized? how about teachers and other such groups?
Yer the author does not really study this aspect.
Mr. Grondahl makes short shrift of the white flight from Albany and its effect on Albany's government and democratic machine. We know more about Mrs. Corning's gardening philosophy than about the changing political landscape of Albany.
That is not to say that this volume is not very good political reading. the chappter about Corning's rivalry with his old "buddy" Nelson Rockefeller in their days at Albany is excellent and makes for interesting study in how politicians evade responsibility and seek credit.Corning's daily city hall routine, his ability to reply to all of Albany's citizens and the like is also a fascinating account of the makings of political power.
This book is a major contribution in the study of political machines in the 2oth century American political culture.. It joins similiar studies of Mayors Richard Daley, Richard Lee of New Haven, James Curley of Boston as important reading in the understanding of the 20th century American urban political scene. I would have hoped that the author would choose to compare Corning's machine to lets say James Curley in Boston. I highly recommend it for any student of urban American politics.
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4 of 4 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Wonderful biography, June 10, 1998
By A Customer
Grondahl captures the man, his personal world and his public world, notably Albany New York. The book will be good reading for anyone but especially fascinating to people interested in politics. Corning was a great character. A patrician who had the common touch and whose office was readily available to anyone, and immensely charming. Many otherwise savvy people--like Governor Cuomo--- have glossed over the tight and largely negative effect of his 42 years as mayor of Albany to cite him as a public servant exemplar.
Grondahl's biography of Corning compares to the great biographies of Robert Caro--about Robert Moses and Lyndon Johnson. Authoritative, full of passion, insightful, and great story well told. Highly recommended!
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3 of 3 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars
Rich biography, and a 1st rate study of machine politics., December 23, 1997
Even if I wasn't a political junkie, this book would have held my attention because, politics aside, its a well-written, fascinating biography of a complicated man. AS a political junkie, I was richly rewarded reading this book. I've never read a more complete examination of the exercise of political power in America. Grondahl is a skillful, honest reporter and he has done a wonderful job with this story.
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