NEW BOOK STUDIES CHANGE IN
MEDIUM-SIZE PLAINS CITIES

By DIANE WANEK
University of Nebraska Press

According to the 1980 census, medium-sized cities — those with populations of 40,000 to 250,000 — are among the fastest-growing areas in the United States. A new book published by the University of Nebraska Press, Cities of the Prairie Revisited, studies this growth and its consequences —politically, socially, and economically.

The cities studied include Champaign-Urbana, Decatur, Joliet, Belleville, Peoria, the Quad Cities, Rockford, Springfield, Alton, and East St. Louis, all in Illinois; Duluth, Minnesota; Superior, Wisconsin; and Pueblo, Colorado.

The growth of these cities "reflects certain fundamental changes in the social patterns of the already urbanized and developed countries of the world, including new economic conditions, new approaches to the organization of local government services, and changing value choices by citizens," the book reports.

In addition, the authors show that the impact of medium-sized cities on the national and world scene is growing as the large cities decline and the more manageable civic life of smaller places generates a "cosmopolitan leadership" in a variety of fields. Many of these changes can be seen as part of the far-reaching effects of Lyndon Johnson's Great Society and Richard Nixon's New Federalism on local governments.

The study Cities of the Prairie Revisited was led by Daniel J. Elazar, professor of political science and director of the Center for the Study of Federalism at Temple University. Elazar also is Senator N. M. Patterson Professor of Intergovernmental Relations at Bar Ilan University in Israel. His other books include The Politics of Belleville, American Federalism: A View from the States, and Cities of the Prairie: The Metropolitan Frontier and American Politics.

Elazar provides a general and comparative analysis of the cities in the first half of Cities of the Prairie Revisited. Case studies of individual cities and metropolitan areas have been contributed by Rozann Rothman, director of the applied politics program at Indiana University — Purdue University in Indianapolis; Stephen L. Schechter and Maren Allen Stein, associate professors of political science at Russell Sage College; and Joseph Zikmund II, dean of the School of Letters and Sciences at Menlo College. •

Editor's Note: You may request a review copy of Cities of the Prairie Revisited or may make inquiries by calling or writing Diane Wanek, University of Nebraska Press, 901 North 17th Street, Lincoln, Nebraska 68588, telephone 402-472-3581.

Page 16 / Illinois Municipal Review / August 1986