Enjoy fast, free delivery, exclusive deals, and award-winning movies & TV shows.
Buy new:
-22% $24.31
FREE delivery Saturday, July 12 on orders shipped by Amazon over $35
Ships from: Amazon.com
Sold by: Amazon.com
$24.31 with 22 percent savings
List Price: $30.99
Get Fast, Free Shipping with Amazon Prime FREE Returns
FREE delivery Saturday, July 12 on orders shipped by Amazon over $35
Or Prime members get FREE delivery Thursday, July 10. Order within 2 hrs 3 mins.
In Stock
$$24.31 () Includes selected options. Includes initial monthly payment and selected options. Details
Price
Subtotal
$$24.31
Subtotal
Initial payment breakdown
Shipping cost, delivery date, and order total (including tax) shown at checkout.
Ships from
Amazon.com
Amazon.com
Ships from
Amazon.com
Sold by
Amazon.com
Amazon.com
Sold by
Amazon.com
Payment
Secure transaction
Your transaction is secure
We work hard to protect your security and privacy. Our payment security system encrypts your information during transmission. We don’t share your credit card details with third-party sellers, and we don’t sell your information to others. Learn more
$7.89
$3.99 delivery July 10 - 15. Details
Only 1 left in stock - order soon.
$$24.31 () Includes selected options. Includes initial monthly payment and selected options. Details
Price
Subtotal
$$24.31
Subtotal
Initial payment breakdown
Shipping cost, delivery date, and order total (including tax) shown at checkout.
Access codes and supplements are not guaranteed with used items.
Ships from and sold by PortablePress.
Kindle app logo image

Download the free Kindle app and start reading Kindle books instantly on your smartphone, tablet, or computer - no Kindle device required.

Read instantly on your browser with Kindle for Web.

Using your mobile phone camera - scan the code below and download the Kindle app.

QR code to download the Kindle App

Follow the author

Vincent J. Cannato
Follow
Something went wrong. Please try your request again later.

The Ungovernable City Paperback – May 16, 2002

by Vincent Cannato (Author)
4.3 out of 5 stars 37 ratings
{"desktop_buybox_group_1":[{"displayPrice":"$24.31","priceAmount":24.31,"currencySymbol":"$","integerValue":"24","decimalSeparator":".","fractionalValue":"31","symbolPosition":"left","hasSpace":false,"showFractionalPartIfEmpty":true,"offerListingId":"va0gja%2FgtwQvwn23TQEOE9v6w9bzP8nsa%2F9YRcG%2B2B5lZD59vQzi9kLbqEnBGWl2UcZD6Ya9VGvrz8yskYSnv80ckaJhxoxlv96i9s%2FFpR2o4k4RRq950bldNIOyfYzRb7MlA%2FvXsdU%3D","locale":"en-US","buyingOptionType":"NEW","aapiBuyingOptionIndex":0}, {"displayPrice":"$7.89","priceAmount":7.89,"currencySymbol":"$","integerValue":"7","decimalSeparator":".","fractionalValue":"89","symbolPosition":"left","hasSpace":false,"showFractionalPartIfEmpty":true,"offerListingId":"va0gja%2FgtwQvwn23TQEOE9v6w9bzP8nsHls7MicNSqpvfwJ%2BWUSC9zwktLc3jlNmiQxq%2F23bGK%2BYH21SriXuJvk4vl1RAaw7cvJXRZtqjSHMGFEJMVFXWRJcVXcKj%2BPNW9duQOLDE8rzDppqHLAHeoHIMBv1Oc9M1wXJv70kPIbIqhPyrT9pA2Xw76LHQkNp","locale":"en-US","buyingOptionType":"USED","aapiBuyingOptionIndex":1}]}

Purchase options and add-ons

Vincent Cannato takes us back to the time when John Lindsay stunned New York with his liberal Republican agenda, WASP sensibility, and movie-star good looks. With peerless authority, Cannato explores how Lindsay Liberalism failed to save New York, and, in the opinion of many, left it worse off than it was in the mid-1960's.
Read more
Previous slide of product details
  1. Print length
    720 pages
  2. Language
    English
  3. Publication date
    May 16, 2002
  4. Dimensions
    6.13 x 1.82 x 9.25 inches
  5. ISBN-10
    0465008445
  6. ISBN-13
    978-0465008445
Next slide of product details
Books%20with%20Buzz
Books with Buzz
Discover the latest buzz-worthy books, from mysteries and romance to humor and nonfiction. Explore more

Editorial Reviews

Review

"...A provocative history of a remarkable time in New York City and of a promising, ultimately weak political leader." -- New York Times

"A thorough and worthwhile look at eight of the most tumultuous years in New York's history." -- Wall Street Journal

"An exhaustive and nuanced, compulsively readable narrative, salted with measured, on-target judgments." -- Publishers Weekly, starred review

"Brilliant." -- U.S. News & World Report

"Cannato's book is the most impressive work of New York City history since Robert Caro's The Power Broker." -- National Review

"Essential reading for anyone interested in American cities or in the 1960's." -- Washington Post

"Right on the money...A volume of history by an academic presented in lean, crisp prose." -- New York Observer

About the Author

Vincent Cannato is currently Adjunct Scholar at the Hudson Institute on Public Policy in Washington, D.C. He lives in Washington, D.C.

Product details

  • Publisher ‏ : ‎ Basic Books
  • Publication date ‏ : ‎ May 16, 2002
  • Edition ‏ : ‎ Reprint
  • Language ‏ : ‎ English
  • Print length ‏ : ‎ 720 pages
  • ISBN-10 ‏ : ‎ 0465008445
  • ISBN-13 ‏ : ‎ 978-0465008445
  • Item Weight ‏ : ‎ 2.1 pounds
  • Dimensions ‏ : ‎ 6.13 x 1.82 x 9.25 inches
  • Customer Reviews:
    4.3 out of 5 stars 37 ratings

About the author

Follow authors to get new release updates, plus improved recommendations.
Vincent J. Cannato

Vincent J. Cannato

Brief content visible, double tap to read full content.
Full content visible, double tap to read brief content.

Discover more of the author’s books, see similar authors, read book recommendations and more.

Customer reviews

4.3 out of 5 stars
37 global ratings

Review this product

Share your thoughts with other customers
Write a customer review

Top reviews from the United States

  • ADinMA
    5.0 out of 5 stars A Fascinating Read
    Reviewed in the United States on March 31, 2012
    Format: PaperbackVerified Purchase
    This book is a thorough and engaging look at the issues facing New York City in the 1960s and 1970s, and the chain of events that led to the city's downward spiral in the 1970s.

    Cannato's research and writing brings the events and controversies during the Lindsey administration to life, giving the reader a sense of how things looked at street-level as well as behind the scenes at City Hall.

    This book ended up fundamentally changing the way I understood urban politics. I would definitely recommend it to anyone who is interested in New York's history or cities in general.
    5 people found this helpful
    Helpful
     Report
  • Bartleby
    5.0 out of 5 stars Like you are there
    Reviewed in the United States on May 11, 2017
    Format: KindleVerified Purchase
    The author is a conservative historian who is less than enthusiastic about Lindsay's years in office. The writing is superb and the rich details give you a wonderful flavor of the era, from the riots and protests to the inner workings at City Hall. I think it's still a necessary read even if you're a Lindsay fan.
    4 people found this helpful
    Helpful
     Report
  • noochinator
    5.0 out of 5 stars Please get an audiobook of this available at Audible.com
    Reviewed in the United States on June 10, 2025
    Format: Paperback
    Great book, would love to see it available as an audiobook at Audible!
    Helpful
     Report
  • Seth A Jonas
    5.0 out of 5 stars Great book
    Reviewed in the United States on July 30, 2020
    Format: HardcoverVerified Purchase
    Amazing book. A lot of similarities to today.
    2 people found this helpful
    Helpful
     Report
  • Andrew Platek
    3.0 out of 5 stars Could have been a lot better
    Reviewed in the United States on November 13, 2012
    Format: PaperbackVerified Purchase
    I was born in NYC but at the age of five my family moved out to the Long Island suburbs along with many white ethnic families. My parents cursed John Lindsay and Nelson Rockefeller for ruining NYC in some grand liberal experiment gone bad. Lindsay was the original limousine liberal. Growing up I watched the local five o'clock news to see a dysfunctional city, a place of crime and decay. NYC to me represented what Newark is to Philip Roth, a once idyllic place destroyed. Who would want to live there I thought? After graduating from law school I moved back to NYC and have lived there ever since. Its a different time, less crime but also living there has given me a different perspective. I picked up this book because I wanted to know about more John Lindsay and about the city he governed. An understanding of the Lindsay administration is very timely now after the 2012 elections. The minority groups and liberal, urban whites who embraced Lindsay have overtaken the more conservative white, suburban popluation that has dominated American politics for the past forty years, my whole lifetime.

    The book has a number of problems. First, the author cannot seem to decide whether he is doing a biography of John Lindsay or the city of New York. For instance, the author devotes a chapter on the Columbia University student occupation and protests. But Lindsay had very little to do with that episode. It seems that the author is merely just trying to paint Lindsay with a broad brush that he is responsible for the city's decline. Second, the author spends very little time on the Lindsay administration initiatives except for the ones that caused controversy, like local control of schools. It would be nice to have more detail about the Lindsay administration policies and context, instead of just a parade of bad news. Third, it would have been nice to know on a more granular level how the Lindsay administration's policies affected people. The author could have interviewed some black parents involved in the Oceanville-Brownsville controversy or a ethnic white Queens resident who felt neglected by Lindsay during the snow removal. The benefit of such an approach is that would gain more voices and different ones. A nice example of this is J. Anthony Lucas' book Common Ground which was about a Lindsay contemporary, Kevin White, who was mayor of Boston. In that book, I gain different perspectives on how public policy affected people.

    I would add that the book's strongpoint is the author's analysis of the 1966 and 1970 elections. Here the author hits his stride and provides some insights on why Lindsay won. Unfortunately that incisiveness is absent in the rest of the book. My impression is that the author made up his mind from the beginning and gleamed from the newspaper headlines the most controversial aspects of Lindsay's tenure. I wouldn't argue that the Lindsay administration was a success but I would have liked to have learned something new. Instead the book reinforces old prejudices and that is a wasted opportunity to gain some understanding.
    15 people found this helpful
    Helpful
     Report
  • Eric A Ulrich
    5.0 out of 5 stars good book
    Reviewed in the United States on March 12, 2015
    Format: KindleVerified Purchase
    Excellent read!
    Helpful
     Report
  • Eric V. Moye
    2.0 out of 5 stars Should have left out the political bias
    Reviewed in the United States on March 25, 2002
    Format: Hardcover
    Like many other reviewers, I found this to be an engaging review of some of New York's most recent history, and was pleased to have the opportunity to reflect on that tumultuous era. However, as a Native New Yorker who lived through Mayor Lindsay's administration, I was troubled by the inaccuracies of which I personally was aware, and therefore was led to question the scholarship generally. Otherwise, I share the same problem with many other reviewers: The fact that the book could have been better if the author had left his disdain for liberal policies on the floor with other discarded parts of the first draft.
    I guess the theory that Lindsay's administration was a flop would have been appreciably harder to substantiate if there had been an accurate description of the racial turmoil New York avoided due to his leadership. I vividly recall what happened in the late sixties in Newark, and Detroit, Watts and a half dozen other cities. It matters not at all what the author says (particularly when it is a repetition of the mantra that because only two were killed and twenty arrested, Lindsay was wrong to deny that this constituted a "riot").
    I don't know what another reviewer means when he speaks of a New Yorks's time as a "quiet riot" That seems rather onymoronic to me. The fact remains that New York avoided the turmoil that infected too many other cities because of Lindsay himself. Thousands correctly believed that Lindsay cared enough to actually interact with people who had been ignored (save at election time) in the past gave them a sense that there may well have been an alternative to destroying the City. I guess that the facts obscured the author's political agenda.
    While it is certainly "Inside Baseball", I must point out that the author (in discussing Lindsay's relationship with teachers) describes the allegedly deteriorating relationship between teachers and kids at Springfield Gardens High School. Cannato quotes a teacher saying that prior to the strikes in 1968, life was better at that school. However, as a proud student of S.G.H.S. from those very same days, I know that the school didn't have its first graduating class until that year. Since it was not open in the years before (the good old days, I guess), I must question the validity of this comparison. Makes me wonder how legitimate some of the other justifications and his other "facts" are...
    I grew tired of the unnecessary characterizations of some of the other individuals who were quoted. Noted sociology professor (of N.Y.'s Queens College) Andrew Hacker could have been quoted (like others) without having his political beliefs being labeled as he was. The truth will show itself, without varnish of this hyperbole.
    Practically ignoring the fact that Lindsay inherited staggering deficits from his predecessor but responded with a string of balanced budgets reflects (at least to me) that Cannato is more interested in asserting his theory of the inadequacy of the Lindsay years than the facts. Without balance, there is simply no legitimate analysis.
    Given the author's admitted bias, it is inexcusable to be so critical with NO suggestion whatsoever of what policies Mayor Lindsay should have put in place rather than those he did. What would Cannato have done with students at Columbia University, surrounded by the neighborhood hostile to its expansion on one side, and young activist students on the other? Ditto the New York municipal unions, like the Police, Transit Workers, Teachers and the Sanitation Department. Does Cannato suggest that the appropriate response would have been to bring in the National Guard to run the trains or teach the children? Or, should he have immediately capitulated to the Sanitation Workers, rather than seek the Court's intervention? It is so easy to be critical now, thirty years and some appreciable prosperity later. But even with the benefit of 20-20 hindsight, we are not afforded the author's wisdom. Be nice to hear what he would have done differently, as opposed to just telling us what he thought was wrong.
    The bottom line? The challenges faced by Mayor Lindsay in The Big Apple were later seen by big city and small-town mayors all across the country. It sure made it easier for some others to respond after they had the chance to see what New York had done first, and respond either by imitation or contrast. Cannato has shown that those who can do, and that some of those who cannot merely criticize.
    28 people found this helpful
    Helpful
     Report
  • mapoma
    5.0 out of 5 stars Make it a movie!
    Reviewed in the United States on June 30, 2020
    Format: Kindle
    Read it during my junior year I. Environmental engineer, and will forever treasure it!
    Surprised it has not been made a movie!
    One person found this helpful
    Helpful
     Report

Top reviews from other countries

  • Hibou
    5.0 out of 5 stars I'm really enjoying this book
    Reviewed in the United Kingdom on March 8, 2013
    Format: PaperbackVerified Purchase
    This book is great; full of detail but hugely readable. John Lindsay is a fascinating figure, and it's so interesting to read about the politics and problems of the 1960s through the microcosm of NYC and its administration. Also it's reassuringly heavy in a proper book kind of way : )
    Report
  • John Quinlivan
    5.0 out of 5 stars the change in New York in 30 yrs
    Reviewed in the United Kingdom on August 1, 2020
    Format: PaperbackVerified Purchase
    interesting what can be done and should be done in urban areas
    Report