The Leftmost City: Power and Progressive Politics in Santa Cruz
“In most US cities, the growth coalition controls local government. Santa Cruz, California, is one of the few exceptions to this rule, which is why Gendron and Domhoff’s analysis of its politics is of particular interest. … [They] use their case study to evaluate the effectiveness of competing theories of urban politics and end up arguing that a modified version of growth coalition theory does a superior job of explaining urban politics. Highly recommended.” —Choice“The Leftmost Cityis a wonderful contribution to urban political theory as well as a concrete guide for how to exploit new opportunities for moving urban America forward. Without cynicism or romantic illusion, the authors use Santa Cruz to show the possibilities for community groups to exert effective local action against entrenched business interests. Thanks to their keen ethnographic eye and fast-paced narrative style, Santa Cruz becomes a laboratory for understanding how to take and hold power, and for seeing what local power can and cannot do.” —Harvey Molotch, New York University; Coauthor ofUrban Fortunes