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A Prayer for the City

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When Ed Rendell took office, he promised that he would work overtime to saving Philadelphia. From that moment on, Buzz Bissinger was there to record his successes and failures. His new journalism prose not only tells Rendell's story, but takes the reader through the process by which this once-great American city has withered under the pressures of crime, poverty, drugs, unemployment, and population loss. Bissinger explains, in part, why people leave the city for the suburbs and how the Federal government's urban policy has favored suburban sprawl and encouraged a white flight during the past 50 years. Through the eyes of a ship-yard worker, a dedicated preacher, a city prosecutor, and a hopeful woman who moves to the city in the hope of preserving it, Bissinger adds the voices of common folks to his narrative. But, in the end, the book blends hope and despair. In spite of his efforts, Rendell's work is not enough. A mayor alone cannot save the city, so long as his ideas are held hostage by the recalcitrant forces of greedy unions and politicos who owe their careers to demagoguery and racially divisive politics. Bissinger doesn't pull any punches in this area: he talks not only about corrupt cops, but about the leaders in Philadelphia's ethnic communities who refuse to cooperate with Rendell because they'd rather reap political gain by publicly parting with him. In the end, it is clear that even though Rendell is the hardest working mayor in the city's history, even he can't do enough. It will not only take a reform-minded mayor and administration, but a willing citizenry and a serious alteration in Federal and State policy before we can revitalize the American city. But electing Ed Rendell seems like the best possible start, and a refreshing contrast to the out-of-touch political operatives who regularly grace our newsprint and televisions.

In many ways, Buzz Bissinger's "A Prayer for the City" is one of the most remarkable books ever written about an American city.
In stark and sometimes shocking detail, Bissinger lays out the crises assailing the modern urban core: violence, poverty, economic development, poor public educational systems and so on. What's truly wonderful about Bissinger's book is that he leaves so many questions open. He isn't shallow or dismissive about these urban dilemmas; Bissinger doesn't give pat answers or bromides about how these problems can be solved.

And that's a remarkable achievement on the author's part, particularly given the manner in which he structures this book. Though he sketches the lives of several Philadelphia citizens, there are undeniably two central characters in this book: Philadelphia Mayor Ed Rendell and his Chief of Staff David Cohen. In some ways -- and I think Bissinger purposefully and effectively conveys this image - Rendell and Cohen should be seen as two sides of the same coin.

Both Rendell and Cohen possess essential characteristics that will be needed in the fight to save the city, but the skills of each are different and, as such, they need each other to do what must be done. Rendell is the affable, easy-mannered, though sometimes short-tempered old politician who is out front. Cohen is the workaholic lawyer whose ruthless attention to the minutiae and detail of public policy brings him 17-hour days and little public glory. The highly public role Rendell plays is layed out in one particularly moving section toward the beginning of the book. Bissinger details a funereal November, 1994 car ride that Rendell took to a city hospital where a police patrolman who had been shot was being treated. Bissinger describes Rendell's interaction with the policeman's family, as well as his palpable anger that a patrolman could be so senselessly cut down in the line of duty. In moving language, Bissinger shows the depth of the problem confronting Rendell and Cohen.

In addition to the generic problems besetting Philadelphia, Bissinger also details those specific to Pennsylvania's largest city. Throughout the book, Bissinger writes of Rendell's and Cohen's attempts to save the Philadelphia Naval Ship Yard from closure by the U.S. Department of the Navy. The story of the struggle for the shipyard, which means the difference between Philadelphia losing or keeping thousands of crucial jobs, provides a penetrating insight into how the municipal and federal governments often move in disparate directions, and how that can have staggering consequences for the local level.
Bissinger's tone in this book is somber, without veering into the maudlin. The author provides great detail about urban problems, but not in a voyeuristic or exploitative way. Though he is clearly rooting for Rendell, Bissinger does not become fawning or mawkish. Indeed, Bissinger's reporting is impeccable, due no doubt to the wide-open access to Rendell he was clearly granted. Primarily, "A Prayer for the City" succeeds because Bissinger set out to tell a great story, and that essential goal is something that far too many journalistic treatments miss these days.

The city of Philadelphia was two-steps from fiscal chaos in 1991 when Ed Rendell was elected mayor. In just four years Rendell pulled the city from the brink of disaster with hard work and gritty determination. This book is an outstanding narrative of Rendell's first term as mayor, giving the reader a wonderful look at the way the city government works and what life is like for the residents of one of America's greatest cities. Anyone who reads this book will become an instant fan of Mayor Rendell and the author.

Buzz Bissinger, whose book "Friday Night Lights" is a provocative page-turner on the world of high school sports, accomplishes the same effect with urban government here. I was born and raised within 30 miles of Philadelphia and now live in Houston, and this book drained my emotions about the city I still think of as home as well as my new home. In showing how Ed Rendell used all of his character and will to turn the city around, and also demonstrating how he was powerless in many of his attempts to achieve reform, Bissinger proves that Rendell fought the good fight and that others must as well if our cities are to be saved. His final chapter, on the fate of the city's Navy yard, pulses with human drama.

Ed Rendell allowed a writer, Buzz Bissinger, to shadow him during his first term as Mayor of Philadelphia. This book is the result of what Buzz saw during those four years. It provides an extremely candid insight into what Ed Rendell is like as a person while dramatically presenting the difficulties facing a large city Mayor.

"A Prayer for the City" also follows the lives of four Philadelphians during this same period. This makes for interesting contrasts that shows how the story of Philadelphia during this era affected people differently. Although, I wonder why, after several years of following a Mayor around, the book did not concentrate more on the Mayor.

The book shows Ed Rendell, the person, flaws and strengths. Ed Rendell is presented as a strongly driven man who works hard, knows his goals, and does his best to reach those goals. This is seen in contract negotiations where he know what he wanted entering, he knew contingencies, and he knew how to reach his goals, which included allowing others to gain credit and his opposition to come to agreement by being able to walk away from the negotiating table with the ability to claim victory, or else the agreements would never have been reached. Agree or disagree with the result, this ability to engage in complex and strategic thinking and reacting allows readers to conclude that Ed Rendell is a very skilled and driven leader.

Ed Rendell is seen as a hard worker, but as one who doesn't react well to overexertion. He is conflicted by the expectations that the Mayor must go to the hospital of any wounded police officer, knowing that a private family time can be seen as being inappropriately disturbed by a politician and the media. Yet, as Ed Rendell lost his father when he was 14, he related well to the children of slain and wounded officers. When the pressure and lack of rest got to be too much, Ed Rendell can scream, throw things, and even do bodily harm, such as digging his heel into another or grabbing a photographer enough to bruise her arm.

Ed Rendell also knows the key to victory is to build coalitions with necessary partners. In order to get legislation through City Council, he did his best to stroke the ego and give credit, even when it was not due to him, to City Council John Street. Of course, we wonder what John Street thinks when he reads some of the negative sentiments expressed by Rendell in the book that were kept from him at this time.

The successes of Rendell's first term are presented. A structural deficit that threatened to bankrupt the city was eliminated. Job losses reversed and small job gains began. The man Al Gore dubbed "American's Mayor" went on and has become our Governor. Readers will see that dealing with the complexities of being a Mayor should serve well as a prelude to being Governor. One point clear from this book is that Ed Rendell means to be a good leader, for as he said himself, "if I walk out of here voted out, I walk with my head held high because I've done the right thing."

Not just a book about a mayor but a book about how people interact with their city and view their mayor as the father of their city and the solver of all problems. So many people try and compare running a political organization like a mayor's office and city government to be ing a company CEO, but this book shows that the comparison is shallow becuase city residents - especially in our urban centers - want much more from a city than customers want from a company. there is an emotional attachment to one's city.

The book is very well written and moves along at a nice pace, while still taking time to show the details of people's lives that make us care for them and make their charachters come alive.

As a resident of a Philadelphia suburb I have more than a casual interest in the subject matter and I wasn't disappointed. Bissinger is an excellent writer, and I was especially impressed how he kept following the real-life plights of several different city citizens (one a black grandmother in a horrible neighborhood, the other a white middle-aged navy yard worker, etc.). The author does a superb job of detailing why the problems of America's cities today are extremely complex and possibly insurmountable. And his unbiased portrait of Mayor Rendell is not always flattering but is always humane.

This book provides great insight into how a city or anything should be run - with pride and dedication for the better of everyone, not selfishness. Rendell and Cohen prove to be a terrific pair, leaving you with wanting to know more and more.

Buzz Bissinger's great book proves the possibilities and limitations of politics: If a mayor can't reach a city's poverty, crime, racism, and population exodus, how is a governor or president supposed to do otherwise? Then again, Bissinger makes a pretty good case that governors and presidents aren't really interested in any of that, anyway, so who else but the mayor is left?

Ed Rendell proves that it's not such a bad thing that all politics is local. If Rendell is as successful as the new chair of Demo Nat'l Committee as he was in the mayor's office, watch out George W...

This book should be required reading for anyone interested in American politics. It sheds light on the inner workings of modern day government. After reading this book, I am convinced that Ed Rendell is the best politician in America. Oh, by the way, I'm Republican. With out a doubt, the BEST book I've read in years.