David Halle is Professor of Sociology at the University of California, Los Angeles. He is also an adjunct professor at the City University of New York's Graduate Center and the author of America's Working Man: Work, Home, and Politics among Blue-Collar Property Owners and Inside Culture: Art and Class in the American Home. Andrew A. Beveridge is Professor of Sociology at Queens College and the Graduate School and University Center of the City University of New York.

• Chapter 1. Introduction New York and Los Angeles: The Uncertain Future ; David Halle and Andrew A. Beveridge ; PART I: Overview ; Chapter 2. The Big Picture: Demographic and Other Changes ; Andrew Beveridge and Sydney Beveridge ; Chapter 3. The New York and Los Angeles Economies from Boom to Crisis ; David L. Gladstone and Susan S. Fainstein ; Chapter 4. America's Leading International Trade Centers and their Entrepreneurial Agencies: Challenges and Strategies in the New York and Los Angeles Regions ; Jameson W. Doig, Steven P. Erie and Scott A. MacKenzie ; PART II: Politics and Economics ; Chapter 5. New York City and Los Angeles: Government and Political Influence ; John Mollenkopf and Raphael J. Sonenshein ; Chapter 6. Financial and Economic Crisis and the Politics of Ongoing Dramas ; David Halle and Andrew Beveridge ; Chapter 7. New York City and Los Angeles: Taxes, Budgets and Managing the Financial Crisis ; George Sweeting and Andrea Dinneen ; PART III: Social and Urban Problems ; Chapter 8. Policing, Crime and Legitimacy in New York and Los Angeles: The Social and Political Contexts of Two Historic Crime Declines ; Jeffrey Fagan and John MacDonald ; Chapter 9. LA and New York Schools: Reform, Organization, and Disorganization ; Julia Wrigley ; Chapter 10. How New York and Los Angeles Housing Policies Are Different-and Maybe Why ; Ingrid Gould Ellen and Brendan O'Flaherty ; Chapter 11. Residential Diversity and Division: Separation and Segregation among Whites, Blacks, Hispanics, Asians, Affluent, and Poor. ; Andrew Beveridge, David Halle, Eddie Telles, and Beth DuFault ; PART IV: Immigration and Ethnic Communities ; Chapter 12. New York and Los Angeles as Immigrant Destinations: Contrasts and Convergence ; Nancy Foner and Roger Waldinger ; Chapter 13. The Transformation of Chinese America: New York v. Los Angeles ; Min Zhou, Margaret M. Chin and Rebecca Kim ; PART V: Planning and Environmentalism ; Chapter 14. Planning L.A.: The Changing Politics of Neighborhood and Downtown Development ; Andrew Deener, Steven P. Erie, Vladimir Kogan, and Forrest Stuart ; Chapter 15. Environmental and Social Justice Movements and Policy Change in Los Angeles: Is an Inside-Outside Game Possible? ; Martha Matsuoka and Robert Gottlieb ; Chapter 16. A Land Ethic for the City of Water ; Kristen Van Hooreweghe, Steve Lang, and William Kornblum ; PART VI: Culture ; Chapter 17. In LA, You Know Where Architecture's At ; Rick Bell ; Chapter 18. New York, LA and Chicago as Depicted in Hit Movies. ; David Halle, Eric Vanstrom, Jan Reiff and Ted Nitschke ; Chapter 19. Nonprofit Organizations in New York City and Los Angeles: A Comparison ; Helmut K Anheier, David Howard, and Marcus Lam

All the chapters are coherent and well integrated with the book's overall goal. This fascinating tale of two cities makes a valuable contribution to comparative urban sociology, and the volume should serve as an important source book for students, scholars, and planners and policy makers interested in urban issues in the US.