"A behind-the-scenes look at three decades of planning and politics for the new Tappan Zee Bridge reveals essential lessons for those interested in tackling complex public policy problems, yet it will also confirm your worst fears about governmental dysfunction. The New York metropolitan area abandoned viable options, squandered hundreds of millions of dollars, forfeited more than three billion dollars in federal funds, and missed out on important...

"Greenport, New York, a village on the North Fork of Long Island, has become an exemplar of a little-noted national trend--immigrants spreading beyond the big coastal cities, driving much of rural population growth nationally. In Village of Immigrants, Diana R. Gordon illustrates how small-town America has been revitalized by the arrival of these immigrants in Greenport, where she lives. Greenport today boasts a population that is one-third Hispanic....