Our Towns
Our Towns

Author: James Fallows

Publisher: Vintage

Published: 2018-05-08

Total Pages: 440

ISBN-13: 1101871857

DOWNLOAD EBOOK

NATIONAL BESTSELLER • "James and Deborah Fallows have always moved to where history is being made.... They have an excellent sense of where world-shaping events are taking place at any moment" —The New York Times • The basis for the HBO documentary streaming on HBO Max For five years, James and Deborah Fallows have travelled across America in a single-engine prop airplane. Visiting dozens of towns, the America they saw is acutely conscious of its problems—from economic dislocation to the opioid scourge—but it is also crafting solutions, with a practical-minded determination at dramatic odds with the bitter paralysis of national politics. At times of dysfunction on a national level, reform possibilities have often arisen from the local level. The Fallowses describe America in the middle of one of these creative waves. Their view of the country is as complex and contradictory as America itself, but it also reflects the energy, the generosity and compassion, the dreams, and the determination of many who are in the midst of making things better. Our Towns is the story of their journey—and an account of a country busy remaking itself.

Jewish Life in Small-Town America
Jewish Life in Small-Town America

Author: Lee Shai Weissbach

Publisher: Yale University Press

Published: 2008-10-01

Total Pages: 446

ISBN-13: 0300127650

DOWNLOAD EBOOK

In this book, Lee Shai Weissbach offers the first comprehensive portrait of small-town Jewish life in America. Exploring the history of communities of 100 to 1000 Jews, the book focuses on the years from the mid-nineteenth century to World War II. Weissbach examines the dynamics of 490 communities across the United States and reveals that smaller Jewish centers were not simply miniature versions of larger communities but were instead alternative kinds of communities in many respects. The book investigates topics ranging from migration patterns to occupational choices, from Jewish education and marriage strategies to congregational organization. The story of smaller Jewish communities attests to the richness and complexity of American Jewish history and also serves to remind us of the diversity of small-town society in times past.

Managing America's Small Communities
Managing America's Small Communities

Author: David H. Folz

Publisher: Rowman & Littlefield Publishers

Published: 2005-08-25

Total Pages: 196

ISBN-13: 1461665752

DOWNLOAD EBOOK

Managing America's Small Communities charts several key aspects of the largely unexamined world of small city management. This book describes the democraphic trends, structural features, executive behavior and service quality among small communities. Are small cities growing, declining or have they remained untouched by the force of change? To what extent have the structural changes and reforms that have swept through larger cities touched small communities? What are the characteristics and behaviors of small city chief executives and how involved are different executives in the dimensions of the governmental process? How do chief executives in small cities make decisions about local services and programs? Are there differences in the extent to which appointed managers and elected mayors are responsive to community interests? The book also examines the frequency with which small communities provide various services, the quality of services provided and how small city officials can diagnose problems with service quality and performance. The book's theme is the value added to small communities that evidence professionalism in city administration. The benefits that accrue to having a professional city manager are most apparent in the extent to which city managers are engaged in decisions related to each of the dimensions of the governmental process, the level of service quality provided, and the prospects for measuring service performance.

Environmental Planning for Small Communities
Environmental Planning for Small Communities

Author: DIANE Publishing Company

Publisher: DIANE Publishing

Published: 1996

Total Pages: 165

ISBN-13: 0788126482

DOWNLOAD EBOOK

Offers small community decision-makers a process for developing a community environmental plan. Covers: getting the right people involved; developing a community vision; defining your community's needs; finding feasible solutions for your community; putting the plan together; and implementation: putting the plan into action and keeping it on track. Appendixes: what environmental regulations affect your community?; assessing risks from environmental problems in your community; and where to turn for help. Illustrated.