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In this engaging and erudite book, Cohen (Harvard Univ.) recounts postwar urban redevelopment in the US through the public service of urban planner Edward Logue (1921-2000). During the early postwar decades when older, industrial cities desperately needed reinvestment, Logue was a central figure. His career began in 1955 in New Haven, CT, when he was appointed to lead a major redevelopment effort and ended 30 years later when he stepped down from the South Bronx Development Organization. In between, he headed the Boston Redevelopment Authority and, later, the New York State Urban Development Corporation. Deeply engaged in finding creative ways to support commercial and industrial development while also providing affordable and integrated housing, Logue had to navigate the changing and yet enduring tensions of race, class, and intergovernmental relations, survive political scheming, and maneuver the urban-suburban disparities and animosities that haunt US social reform. Much admired and much criticized, Logue never wavered in his commitment to develop more inclusive and more prosperous cities, two goals that are seldom compatible. This outstanding piece of historical scholarship should be obligatory reading for a wide audience.Summing Up: Essential. General readers through faculty; professionals.