The Ethnic Quest for Community: Searching for Roots in the Lonely Crowd

Michael Hughey and Arthur Vidich have edited a masterful collection of essays on ethnic life in America and the challenges these ethnic groups face in assimilating into American culture.  The eleven essays discuss German immigrants of the 19th century; the Italian American community in New York City; Irish-Italian “lounge communities” and their unique cultural significance;  staged communities such as Sturbridge village that serve as artifacts of past value systems;  weekend communities created by the routine diaspora from New York City; the Iranian-American communities since the fall of the Shah of Iran; Pan-Hispanic communities as an American  political phenomena and the Haitian,  Grenadian and Hungarian communities and their community structure. According to Vidich and Hughey, “all these studies are based on original empirical research and are separate projects of individuals working on independent research problems. They were undertaken at different times and with different problems in mind. Collectively, they illustrate some of the major features of racial, ethnic and urban communities in the United States, specifically, in the metropolitan regions of America.”  The eleven essays illustrate the wide range of challenges of assimilation that have emerged in a society that is increasingly accepting a pluralistic cultural foundation.

This book is no longer in print but is available at nearly two dozen university libraries across the United States.

  

Bensman and Vidich

Art and Joseph Bensman were perfectly suited for each other. Pursuing a literary career is challenging for most people but they found a calling in working together and mutually supporting each others intellectual and academic endeavors. Their work along with that of Maurice Stein earned them the 1987 Robert and Helen Lynd Award for lifetime contributions to research in community.

Art Vidich and Joseph Bensman sharing a lighter moment

Joseph Bensman and Art had a rare ability to work together on a number of books that became American best sellers including the classic Small Town in Mass Society that sold over 250,000 copies and redefined the concept of community studies in the sociological field. Photograph taken in 1975 by Paul Vidich.

Joseph Bensman and Art Vidich

Art with Joseph Bensman in Greenwich Village. Art and Joe were college friends who developed a life long collaboration that bound their lives together in their work and academic arenas. Photograph taken in 1975 by Paul Vidich. Art worked at the New School for Social Research for forty years while Joe worked at the City University of New York for most of his academic career with stints at the New School and other universities.

Bensman and Vidich Working in Greenwich Village

Art Vidich and Joseph Bensman working on one of their many book manuscripts. Photograph taken by Paul Vidich circa 1975 at 40 Bedford Street, Greenwich Village, New York.

Sociology on Trial

Sociology on Trial levels an indictment against those sociologists who have compromised the intellectual tradition of critical social analysis. Contemporary sociology, these essays contend, has succumbed to the blandishments of modern society. Such prominent observers as Karl Mannheim, Hans Gerth, and C. Wright Mills here examine sociology's present intellectual climate, its use of value neutrality as a disguise and defense and its suppression of history. New work styles and strategies are suggested by Robert Nisbet, Lewis Feuer, and others: for contemporary sociology must broaden its scope and diversify its approach if it is to deal meaningfully with the complexities of modern society.

This dusk jacket description of this far reaching work, underestimated the true impact of this seminal work. Years after its publication, Art Vidich revealed that this book played a major role in influencing a whole generation of radical sociologists to re-think "establishment" sociology. The book, translated into numerous languages, continues to attract an audience for those interested in the limits of so-called "value neutrality."

Arthur Vidich with Paul Vidich, probably in London

Art and Virginia Vidich traveled to London while their second son, Paul, was only a few weeks old. Art lived in London when the "London Fog" referred to the air pollution that pervaded the atmosphere of this ancient city. The winter air was so bad that buses had attendants in front to make sure the driver did not inadvertently run over anyone. The air was so bad, according to Art, that you could not see more than 3 feet in front of you.

This photo was taken during the summer of 1951 when air quality was at its best.

Art Vidich and his Candor days

Candor 4th of July Parade

This photograph appeared on page 160 of the book titled, Village of Candor: Yesterday and Today, A Centennial Celebration Edition, published in July 2000. Vidich gained a reputation in Candor, New York after his book, Small Town in Mass Society was published. The town got national publicity which was not well received by many towns people. The town parade at right was one of the milder demonstrations of interest in Art Vidich and his book.

Last year I had the opportunity to revisit Candor after some thirty years. I mentioned who I was to a clerk in the Town offices and she appeared unfamiliar with the name Vidich. After nearly sixty years, the younger generation of Candorites have lost interest/awareness of the impact Small Town in Mass Society had on their community. 

In contrast, Cornell University's administration remains acutely aware of the impact this book had on the university and its relations with Candor. Surprising as it may seem, the Cornell University has embargoed all of the most sensitive documents concerning the university's research on Candor until the years 2026. Indeed some select files have been embargoed until 2046.  Not even the Kennedy assassination files have been treated with such confidentiality! 

Stay tuned as we share more information on the history of Candor and the extensive Cornell University files that chronicle this famous upstate New York farm community. 

Arthur Vidich - Perhaps in New York City

Art was a warm hearted and generous man who devoted a great deal of time caring for his children, step children and his many nephews and nieces throughout the United States. He could be a very demanding parent when it came to household chores but he never forgot his obligation to care for his less fortunate friends and relatives.

He truly understood the importance of letter writing, spending much of his life corresponding with his friends, colleagues, children and nephews and nieces. Many of his grand children still have these treasured letters which, in several instances, were instrumental in nurturing their own careers as writers or scholars.  My son Jamie has cherished his vast collection of letters from his grandfather and some day we hope that he will share them with the rest of the family.

Arthur Vidich in Palau, the site of his anthropological study

His Mediterranean heritage helped Art to survive the many years he lived on tropical islands without any serious skin damage. He spent a year on the island of Palau, four years on the island of Puerto Rico, and collectively over four years in Colombia, Japan and Iran, Florida and Eastern Europe. These wide ranging experiences not only exposed him to climates and cultures that were foreign to his mid-west upbringing, they had a strong impact on the future direction of his research and professional interests.

Art never forgot Palau and remained in touch with numerous people from that island throughout his career. His 1952 Ph.D. thesis of Palau, the "Political Impact of Colonial Administration" would eventually be published in 1982 by Arno Press. It remains the definitive study of Palau's political and social structure to this day.

Mrs and Mr. Joseph Vidich

Taken in the 1950s, this photo of Art's parents is one of the few that remains from that period of time. Neither of his parents did much traveling within the United States after they settled down in Milwaukee, Wisconsin in 1920s.

They survived the Great Depression by operating a "Speak Easy" that served meals and drinks.

Art at Fulbright reception in London - 1950

Arthur Vidich and his wife Virginia with two other Americans at the U.S. Embassy in London

Art is seen here at a reception for Fulbright scholars held at the U.S. Embassy in London. Photograph taken in 1950 by the Portman Press Bureau located by Pavilion Road, Solane Street, London. Art spent most of his time in London working on his PhD dissertation titled The Political Impact of Colonial Administration which documents his analysis of the colonial era on the island of Palau. His anthropological study is one of the rare gems of cultural historiography for that island nation and it remains a must read for those interested in Palau's culture.

Many American are not aware that the early post World War II years in London were some of the most bleak in that nation's history. My father told me that air pollution was so bad in the early 1950s that bus drivers could not see more than 3 feet through their front window because of the thick veil of coal smoke.  The only way accidents were avoided was by having a man walk in front of each bus to escort it through the roads. The pollution was not limited to the outside - our Hyde Park apartment was also polluted with coal smoke.  Shocking as it may seem, the bigger issue in London was not the deadly "London Fog" but the lack of coal to stay warm in the winter. Children who grew up in the 1960s and 1970s have no conception of how dire living conditions were right after the war.

Arthur Vidich a family portrait

A family photo from Art's days as a professor at the University of Puerto Rico in Rio Piedras. Virginia is shown with her youngest son Andrew on her lap. Charles and Paul are shown sitting in front of their university apartment.

Joseph, Art's youngest son was born in Puerto Rico one year after this photo was taken.

The Vidich's lived in Puerto Rico from 1953 to 1957. During that time Art developed some of his most lasting friendships including Eugenio and Ampara Granell, Franz and Sandy Von Lichtenberg, Balaji and Mohini Moncur, Beatte Salz, Virginia Betancourt, and Lepold Kohr to name a few.

Arthur Vidich with his son Charles on Rio Meta, Colombia

Art Vidich is seen here on the Rio Meta, one of the major tributaries of the Orinoco River that divides Colombia from Venezuela. Art took his son, Charles (shown wearing the cowboy hat) on an anthropological expedition to visit several amazonian tribes living in the jungles of southeast Colombia. They discovered natives tribes that lived without western clothes, survived off river fishing, hunting in the jungle and a modicum of root crops. Art was impressed by the primitive conditions and the relatively isolated way of life found amongst Colombian Indians in 1964.

Art saw river fish that were over 8 feet long and so many wild rats at night he was forced to live under completely enclosed netting at night. Even with such protection, it was hard to sleep because the rats were constantly running up and down the mosquito netting searching for access into ones bed chamber.

This trip cured Art's son, Charles, of all of his romantic illusions concerning jungle living.

The map below shows where the Rio Meta meets the Orinoco River - both of which form the boundary line between Colombia and Venezuela. Art Vidich spent time in Puerto Carreno and journeyed down the Orinoco by dugout canoe. One of the Orinoco River voyages was extremely long and resulted in a late night return to Puerto Carreno that brought Art into a near collision path with a giant cattle boat that plied these waters at an ungodly hour. Who could imagine an ocean liner sized cattle vessel churning down the Orinoco River in pitch dark conditions. It is remains an unforgettable memory of the dangers lurking in the un-regulated waters of the Amazon.  

Arthur Vidich probably in Iran in late 1970s while the Shah of Iran was still in power

Arthur Vidich with his Mother circa 1963

Pauline Vidich was the real head of the Vidich household and, throughout his life, Art was forever mindful of this hierarchy. His mother managed the family's affairs and made sure Art did his homework and took care of family chores.

Pauline was fortunate to have three daughters who not only served as baby sitters for young Art but also served as his surrogate mothers. For Art, this matriarchy not only had a profound influence on his emotional sensibilities it defined his later expectations of married life.

Art Vidich in Rio Piedras, Puerto Rico

Art spent a great deal of his spare time in Puerto Rico working on his book "Small Town in Mass Society." Joseph Bensman came to Rio Piedras to work with Art on the completion of this book. The release of Small Town created a furor in Candor, New York that forever changed Art's relationship to its townspeople.

Art with his family in London, England - 1950

Art and Virginia with their sons Charles (left) and Paul

Art is shown here with his sons Charles, 2 and a half years of age, and Paul about 5 months old (sitting on his mother, Virginia's lap). Art was studying at the London School of Economics during which time he was working on his PhD dissertation for the Department of Social Relations at Harvard.  Photograph was taken circa December 1950 in London England - probably at their Hyde Park apartment which was located near Highgate cemetery where Karl Marx is buried.

Art Vidich at age 17 received a scholarship to attend the University of Wisconsin - 1940

This article appreared in the Milwaukee Journal on May 28, 1940, just two weeks before Art graduated from high school. As one of the top scholars in his class, he received a $100 scholarship to attend the University of Wisconsin. While $100 is not much money today, in those days, it covered a goodly amount of his first years' education costs.

The Robert & Helen Lynd Award - 1987

Art, Joseph Bensman and Maurice Stein were honored with the Robert and Helen Lynd award for their work in community studies. These three men collaborated on a number of significant books and scholarly initiatives over a forty year period. Maurice Stein was at Brandeis University, Art was at the New School and Joseph Bensman was at Brooklyn College and later City University of New York. These three sociologists changed the shape of modern sociology - bringing a deeply needed emphasis on participant observation, community studies and the need for a critical eye as western intellectual traditions became increasingly bureaucratized and corrupted by governmental and corporate interest groups.

Speakng on Intellectuals in Exile - 1994

Art is pictured lecturing at a Graudate Faculty event titled "Intellectuals in Exile: Refugee Scholars and the New School." This photograph was taken February 22, 1994 when he was an emeritus professor of sociology.

Art's birth certificate and Place of Birth

A Copy of Arthur Vidich's birth certificate. He came into this world without a name and he left this world known as Arthur Joseph Vidich. His parents, Joseph, and Paulina were, respectively, 35 and 30 years of age when Art was born in the village of Manganese located in Crow Wing county Minnesota. 

Art was the only son of Slovenian immigrants. They moved from Minnesota shortly after Art was born due to a mining accident that his father had while working in northern Minnesota. This accident would bring him to Milwaukee, Wisconsin where he spent his youth in West Allis, a community with a large Slovenian population.

Art at Wesleyan attending his grandson's graduation - 2003

Arthur at his grandson Arturo Vidich's graduation from Wesleyan University, May 2003. This was one of the last great memories of Art basking in the pleasure of discourse with all of his grandchildren who came to share that day with him.

Art with Palau stone carvings - 1947/1948

Art Vidich next to a Palauan stone carving near his base of operations. Photograph taken sometime during 1947 or 1948. Art did not return to the United States until the summer of 1948, months after the birth of his first son, Charles.

Arthur's Kropa Cousins - 1951

In the summer of 1951 Arthur traveled with his wife, Virginia to Kropa, then part of Yugoslavia to visit with relatives he had never met before. Pictured here are his cousins Maryan (left) and Vlado (right).  This first reunion with his cousins would be one of many trips Art Vidich made to stay in touch with his Slovenian relatives.  He felt a special bond with the town of Kropa and could never understand why his own parents never would return to their homeland. Finding his roots was important to him and influenced his intellectual work in many subtle and not so subtle ways. 

Arthur Vidich in Palau in 1947

A rare photo of Arthur Vidich in 1947 while completing his anthropological treatise on the Island of Palau in the South Pacific. I suspect the loin cloth was a comfortable form of dress that was common amongst the people of Palau. All of the photos of Art Vidich while living in Palau reflect his casual dress - consistent with his role as a participant observer of that culture.

 This photograph was made available by Max Gregoric, his step son, who kindly shared it with me. It is perhaps the earliest color photos ever taken of Arthur.

Art with fellow anthropologists in Palau - 1948

The climate in Palau lent itself to limited clothing and living off the land and sea. His research on the politics of Palau under colonial rule remains one of the definitive treatises on the island's colonial history. Art is seen here with Fran Mahoney and Bob Rizenthaler in front of his residence in Melekiok, Palau.

Art with an Aunt

A photo with one of his relatives, most likely an aunt from Kropa who he visited on one of his many trips to Slovenia.

Art in Japan - 1946

Art in Japan in military garb. As a procurement officer his role was to ensure that the troops had all of the rations, services and supplies needed to decommission Japan. This included paying for the destruction of Japanese military equipment and airplanes.

On his return from Palau - 1948

On his return from the South Pacific, he discusses his field work with John Useem, a professor of sociology at the University of Wisconsin, Madison who was responsible for organizing his anthropological expedition and selecting him for this assignment.

in Southern Japan - 1946

Art with Japanese children in Southern Japan. He noted that there were very few people who were not either children or elderly when the Marines invaded Southern Japan.

Art in London during 1950.

Arthur J. Vidich in London in 1950. Two weeks after his second son Paul was born in August 1950 , Arthur took his family on the Queen Elizabeth for his Fulbright year at the London School of Economics.

Arthur's son, Charles interviewed him on his activities during 1950. Here is what Art said in an exclusive interview granted in the summer of 2005.
Charles Vidich: When you went to Europe, how did you go? By train?

AJV: We took trips to Europe. One without you boys. We farmed you out to nannies for about 6 weeks. I always regretted that. But neither of us was aware of the implications of just dumping two children on nannies whom they knew but only sporadically, who took care of them some days a week. I know that it disturbed Charlie in some way from a report that the nanny gave me because she took him to Brighton beach and she said he sat under the table for the first two days. Ha ha.

Paul, of course, was very young and it didn’t matter as much. He was less than a year old. On the next trip to Europe, we didn’t go by car we went by train and took the two boys with us going to France and taking the Simplone Orient Express to Trieste. At that time, Tito had broken with Stalin but was still not part of the west. So you had to get off of a luxurious train of the Simplone Orient Express which went all the way to Turkey and transfer to a Yugoslav train which was an old battered train. It was full of peasants and you got on that train and the atmosphere changed completely. Everybody was delighted to see some Americans, Americanos and babies. The old ladies took the babies, hugged them and took care of them. It was a welcome I couldn’t believe I could receive anywhere. Giving us wine or whatever. And then we got to Ljubljana and Maryan Sadar met us. And from our previous trip we had known what kind of shortages these people were living with. No toothbrushes, no needles, no thread and no bicycles. I had brought a bicycle from England along with all of these supplies that Virginia had for these relatives. And we gave all of these supplies to Maryan Sadar, who I hope and he said he did, distribute these supplies to the relatives. And the bicycle I gave to Stana Sadar in Radovliza. She has not to this day, forgotten that. She sends me a Christmas card every year with a long rundown of what has happened from all of the relatives. So we were there for quite a long time, I would say two months almost and not since that time have I been treated so royally. Before I went there for the second trip, Joe Bensman who was at the Voice of America, asked me to do a study of radio listening habits in Yugoslavia. I said “Ok.” And he said that his superiors said Ok. They tried to clear it with the State Department and the State Department nixed the deal. They didn’t want an American going in there like a CIA agent or something like that. So they didn’t give me the deal. Joe wrote to me separately and said, if you do it anyway, we’ll buy it from you for $500 bucks. Ha ha. So I went and I did it anyway. Ha ha. I traveled to Zagreb, Belgrade and met all kinds of people, and really all strata. I did sixty interviews on the queue tee, writing my notes at night afterwards and remembering the stuff in detail, phrases and stuff and so forth. When I got back, Virginia and I wrote up the report and sent it in and I got the $500 which I needed. I was then pretty strapped for cash. I came back to America with about $100 bucks and I had no place to go so I was put up by Luis Fisher’s wife, Marcusa Fisher in a place in Pennsylvania, in Dutch country. Then I got a letter from Washington asking me to come there to be briefed on my experience there. And I went there and I was really impressed by the coordination of interagency people who were interested in that subject.

Bombing of Nagasaki - 1945

Nagasaki as viewed from the air about 4 weeks after the Americans dropped the bomb. The photo was taken by Arthur Vidich and is a truly rare image of one of the most gruesome events in world history. It is believed to be the one of first photos taken of the devastation. 

As a procurement officer for the Marine Corps, Art was responsible for buying supplies and services in the Nagasaki Area. He arranged for the plane, pilot and himself to fly over the city to document the devastation. 

Photo taken by Vidich in September 1945.

Art in the South Pacific - 1947/1948

Art in Palau during 1947 or 1948. This is the island where he conducted his anthropological research. This is also one of the last photos before Art began going bald. You will notice he is holding a white cap which normally covered his receding hair line.

Art with military friend

Art with one of his marine corps buddies.

Art's sisters as children

Art's three older sisters at an early age. From left to right, Olga, Pauline, Arthur and Betty,

Art in Slovenia in early 1950s

Art in Solvenia just after World War II, visiting his relatives in Kropa.

Riding a bike in his back yard

A photo of Arthur Vidich when he was still in high school in West Allis.

Hans Gerth, his mentor

Hans H. Gerth in Japan in 1962. Gerth was the major intellectual influence on Arthur J. Vidich as well as Joseph Bensman. Vidich used the intellectual insights he gained from Gerth throughout his intellectual career. Both he and Bensman were the direct lineal descendants of Gerth's intellectual legacy - along with numerous other sociologists who studied at the University of Wisconsin in the 1930s and 1940s.

Art making a point

Art making a point in one of his New School courses. The photo was taken circa 1970 and reflects the teaching style he used throughout his career. This photo was chosen for the cover of his auto-biography.

Marine Corps Photograph

Arthur Joseph Vidich's official Marine Corps photograph taken in 1943.

Art at the Center of Public Dialogue

Art lecturing, most likely in New York City in the 1980s. His academic life was not limited to the four walls of the New School for Social Resarch. He established an extensive network of colleagues, students and professionals in related fields that spread his influence into a wide range of seemingly unrelated fields including sociology, anthropology, street theater, philanthropy, political science, the study of bureaucracy, phenomenology, public policy and urban planning.

Art was a dashing young man with ambition

Arthur Vidich in 1935 wearing a hat much like his father used to wear. Clothing styles changed dramatically over his life time. However, regardless of fashion trends, Art always seemed to have a sense for what looked good - a trait that he acquired from his stylish older sisters.  

Art selected this photo to be included in his autobiography. Unfortunately the publishers, for cost reasons, decided against this idea and instead made this and other photos available on its website.

Art Vidich - The Young Slovenian Scholar

This is Art's high school graduation photo taken in 1940. He graduated on June 13, 1940, President of his class. He chose this photo for his autobiography.

Art in New York in 1982

Arthur Vidich is seen here in his office at the New School for Social Research in 1982. He selected this photo for his autobiography. Photograph was taken by Joseph Schuyler.

Art's Sisters Were a Powerful Influence on his Life

This photo was taken of Arthur with his three sisters while he was still in grade school. Olga is on the left, Arthur is wearing the cap, Pauline is sitting on the bumper and Betty is on the right. It was taken in West Allis, a neighborhood in Milwaukee, Wisconsin where he grew up. Art selected this photo for his autobiography.

With a Critical Eye

Arthur Vidich's autobiography is a "must read" for anyone interested in the ideas of one of the brilliant social analysts of the 20th century.  Art's uncanny skills as a participant observer were well documented in Small Town in Mass Society and they are clearly evident in his self observations.  His autobiography is a refreshing look at a  man who touched thousands of lives and yet remained self effacing - pivoting from self to analysis to explain the evolution of his life and thoughts. 

Professor David Kettler rightly notes that, "Observation rather than theory was his me´tier." This book traces his life as the son of Slovenian immigrants through his years as a student of Hans Gerth at the University of Wisconsin and later as a student of more traditional social theorists at Harvard. Throughout his early years, Art displayed remarkable skills as an observer and gracious host that endeared him to those he worked with. His life in the South Pacific, Puerto Rico and in Japan immediately after the atomic bomb was dropped makes this book a fascinating read - even for those who are not sociologists.

Metropolitan Communities

Art and Joseph Bensman teamed up for yet another one of their collaborations to address urban planning and urban communities. The book addresses the types of communities that have developed since World War II - particularly during the sixties and seventies.

It focuses on the underlying causes of this development - ethnic changes in the composition of metropolitan areas, the decline of the inner city and the flight to the suburbs.

The editors see class, ethnic, political, racial and civic tensions as the basis for the recreation of older communities and the organization of new ones. The role of governments and private bodies in helping create these communities is explored in depth.

What makes this book a fascinating read is that all of the essays were written by New York Times journalists with "boots on the ground" insights about Metropolitan Communities.

Part one addresses Overall trends associated with new migrants to American cities, the growth of the "centerless" suburbia and the decline and decay of urban centers with the out migration of white middle class families. While this book was published over 40 years ago, its gripping stories of poverty and crime in America's central cities reveals how little progress urban planners have made in rectifying the  stark economic segregation created by zoning regulations and the massive federal investment in the interstate highway system.  The Intestate Highways are rightly portrayed as a federal massive investment that has contributed to the destruction of metropolitan communities and led to massive land speculation along interstate interchanges.

Part 2 of the book assembles ten New York Times articles on metropolitan sub communities and sub-cultures of the lower class, bohemians, intellectuals and artistic as well as the middle and lower middle class. Part 3 includes six articles on ethnic communities primarily located in New York City and Part 4 deals with tensions as a source of community conflict and integration which is addressed through ten excellent articles written by veteran journalists. Finally Part 5 presents nine articles that discuss new community forms including defensive and conflict communities, administrative communities and institutional and discretionary communities.

Published in 1975, this would be one of the last collaborations that Art would have with his dear friend Joseph Bensman.  Anyone concerned with the future of the American city and its wide range of communities and cultures, would benefit from reading this book - if only to recognize how little progress has been made in resolving economic and racial segregation in America.

High School Principals

In 1969 Arthur Vidich and Charles McReynolds collaborated on a unique study of the challenges facing New York City's high school principals when faced with integrating black and Hispanic students into the school system. The study, High School Principals Study Seminar, funded by the U.S. Department of Health, Education and Welfare (HEW), found that the twenty three principals they interviewed were fighting a losing game of public relations with community expectations of educational reform far greater than they could deliver. According to Vidich and McReynolds, the principals fell into the role of the apologists for the status quo and resented, and indeed were unwilling to accept, the criticisms received from the teacher's union, the public and outside experts.

This study, although almost fifty years old, provides insights into the occupational biases of school administrators who routinely get absorbed into the tasks of school administration at the expense of serving as "principal teachers" providing experimental education program more appropriate to the cultural and social needs of lower income black and Hispanic students.

The crisis of New York City's education for lower income blacks and Hispanics was compounded by the flight of white middle class New Yorkers to the suburbs and for those whites who remained in the city, the placement of their children in private schools.  The authors argue that the city's principals became ensnared in the bureaucracy of education and lost sight of the need for experimental education. Perhaps, more telling the principals became the defenders of the status quo finding fault with their detractors rather than with the need for school reform. Angered that their professionalism was maligned in the press, the principals failed to get beyond reactionary strategies reflecting their past understandings of what educational reforms worked best. Yet public expectations of educational reform went far beyond merely fixing school curriculum - black activists expected an elimination of social inequality, structural forms of racism (i.e., housing segregation) and equal employment opportunity.

This classic case study of New York City principals during the height of the school integration crisis reveals the degree to which high school education remains one of the most politicized functions of local government in America. Any teacher seeking advancement to an administrative role within their local school system would be well advised to read this study before considering becoming a school principal.