Foster points out that the rate of formation of specialized districts has been rising rapidly. She provides a system for classifying them and notes all of the historic stimuli for their development. She then focuses on the two main reasons for their development: the influence of developers and increasing fiscal pressures on state and local governments.

The strength of the book is in its empirical analytics. One of my favorite parts is where she enumerates specialized districts by geographic scope and property taxing power. Over half of all district have this ability. It is these that may pose potential future problems to the residents and businesses they tax since the districts are not run by elected officials. Hence officials will be able to raise (and lower) taxes and yet are free from significant repraisal.

Although thorough, Foster finds her data often limit the scope of her analysis. But she makes the most of what she has. She finds, for example, that special districts tend to spend more per capita on a specified public service than do general-purpose governments (states, counties, townships, cities, boroughs). She points out that they may provide a different type of service, however, which may justify the extra expense (she points out that they are also more capital-intensive). Because of this upward spending bias, metro areas that rely on them also have a greater share of their public spending concentrated in the typical functions of the districts.

In summary, The Political Economy of Special-Purpose Goverments is a very important book for the field of public economics. It is not the book for the layman, however, since it relies on the application of statistical techniques to the Census of Goverments data.

I looked for this book because of Rising Tide, a magnificent work by the same writer, and was not disappointed. The author says he's writing about power from different perspectives, from the way athletes marshall power over themselves to the way political institutions work. So this is a collection of things that on the surface wouldn't seem to fit together-- a story on a friend of the author who went to Vietnam, pieces on football players and world record holding athletes originally published in places like Sports Illustrated, and chapters on politics, especially on Congress, Newt Gingrich and the Washington media. As strange a mix as that seems, somehow they do all fit together. And the individual chapters are not only moving, but on occasion extraordinarily insightful. If you think you understand Congress, read this and you'll discover a new world. If you think you understand the media, read this and you'll understand how and why it funcstions as it does at a level deeper than you ever have before. If you think you understand what makes world class and pro athletes tick, read this and you'll see that you didn't.

Useful information / text for undergrad thru grad level. Field resource will save you $$$$ so you don't have to pay for your own mistakes. I've added the volume to my library.

Okay I havent actually read the book, but I like punk music! That gives me some credit, doesn't it? So, the thing is, that I was always wanting to have some kind of contribution to the punk scene as a whole besides going to punk shows in my local city. Though there are books about punk that I HAVE read, I thought it might be more interesting to say my nonexistent opinion on one I haven't read and see where my rambling thoughts take me. So now, you have experienced the inter workings of my messed-up-in-many-ways mind and probably still don't understand why I'm doing this, but I personally am very entertained by this activity. If you think I'm dumb, or cool, or want to send me death threats, send em to my email address included below. See ya in the pit!

I really love this book. It has cool pictures and tells alot about The Rugrats Movie! You should read it!

For some reason, man continues to believe that he can change nature to suit his purposes, for his own comfort. Acting on this belief, beginning in the 1920's and continuing to this day, the Army Corp of Engineers enbarked on a massive plan that would change waterways reaching from the Artic circle to as far south as the Equator. They built dams, they drained swamps, they built bridges, they altered the course of rivers but they never understood that you could not change nature without irrepairably damaging the environment. And if they did begin to understand it, the plan had just become bigger than them, it took on a life of it's own and nothing can stop it now. Not even the disappearance of animals, plants, drinking water, restoration wetlands and marine life.

Clyde Butcher understood this. He began photographing the everglades at a time when he a thing he most treasured was lost. In a sense, he was photographing life, the everglades, in as near a pristine state as possible, in honor of his son's life, knowing that both would eventually disappear and be gone forever.

Mr. Butcher's photos of the Everglades take your breath away. In black and white, he manages to capture the vastness of the grass seas, the lushness of the swamps. His photos brings you so close to the swamp that you have to check to see if your feet are wet. You swear you hear the tiny ripple of water that comes when the alligator glides silently into the swamp. The primordial tangle of leaves, trees, vines, water are there before your eyes.

Clyde Butcher was careful to take his pictures so that no evidence of man ever invades his frames and he suceeded overwhelmingly.

Buy this book because as the Army Corp of Engineers machine rolls on, this will be the final work of art on the Everglades in as pristine state as possible.

If you are nervous about the impending trip to Mexico and have heard many stories about the dangerous police or federales, you should delve into the subject matter here. John Stanley is a great advisor on such things as pay offs, bribes, and just how to deal with the people of Mexico. It may be a lesser known fact that Stanley was a fugitive for many years leading business in and around Mexico without a major problem. This book will calm your nerves and give you a tourist's edge. ¡Compralo ya!

If you must have only one book in your library on biology, this is it. A bold statement, but when you bring together researchers with such a range of interest to discuss a simple amino acid you get more than just interesting lectures on the "hot topic" of today.

Read the introductions for the chapters and you find a wealth of information, not obscured by technical jargon.

Follow the authors through experimental design; view their results; question their interpertations and see if your own conclusions agree with theirs. This is science at its best; based on observation, intuition, cleverly designed experiments and interpertation of results. And, a look to the future.

Taurine is Mother Natures best example of how to recycle. How else is it explained how taurine has involvement in so many systems that can be summarized under the term "environmental protection". But this is the environment of the diverse cells of warm and cold blooded species, from man to the beautiful star-fish.

"A lively,funny and very moving account of a remarkable theatrical dream" - Kenneth Branagh

"An extraordinary document of human endeavour. When I got to the final pages I found there were tears running down my face." - Rosemary Harris

"A breathtaking achievement...this massive history of the rebirth of Shakespeare's Globe (tells) a long and complex theatrical,political and architectural story across some very story years." - Sheridan Morley

"Reads like a political thriller" - Time Out

THIS BOOK IS A GREAT REVIEW OF MOST OF THE VARIED TYPES OF TEXTILES IN INDONESIA. WITH LOTS OF COLORFUL PICTURES THAT ILLUSTRATE BOTH THE TEXTILES AND THE PROCESSES AND PEOPLE THAT PRODUCE THEM, THIS IS A RESOURCE CLASSIC. GILLOW AND DAWSON MAKE A SPLENDID TEAM, AND THE LATEST REPRINT OF THIS BOOK PROBABLY WON'T BE THE LAST.