Frank Rizzo: The Last Big Man in Big City America

This well-researched, savvy biography limns the unlikely career of Frank Rizzo (1920-1991), who won mayoral nominations in Philadelphia from both major parties, maintaining power not through political philosophy or machine politics but by sheer personal magnetism, shows Paolantonio. A city cop, Rizzo switched his allegiance from the Republican to the Democratic party when offered the position of police commissioner by the Democratic mayor in 1966. In the summer of 1967, when riots broke out in Newark and Detroit, his law-and-order tactics kept the lid on in Philadelphia, gaining approval from whites and blacks alike. But much of Rizzo's political career was based on racial polarization, according to the author, from his first year as mayor in 1972 when he instructed his police commissioner ``to fight federal lawsuits to open the police department to minorities and women'' to his return bid in 1987 (this time as a Republican) when he disregarded the black community. If Philadelphia Inquirer reporter Paolantonio sometimes sacrifices style and the big picture for blow-by-blow accounts of aspects of Rizzo's career, this is nevertheless a worthy addition to books about urban politics. Photos not seen by PW . (July)