In the growing catalog of books about the decline of the postwar American city, race dominates the narrative. A significant portion of this literature takes the form of what might be called urban political biography. A single city is examined with an eye toward understanding how conflicts, usually centered on race and residence, have shaped its political culture and the broad outlines of its physical form. This literature has provided valuable insights, helping explain some of the distinctive development patterns that came to characterize U.S. cities in the second half of the twentieth century.