In this first comprehensive account of the career of “America’s Mayor,” Fred Siegel shows how Rudolph Giuliani’s successes in New York—restoring law and order, cutting taxes and radically reducing the welfare rolls—demonstrated that cities might again become vibrant and dynamic places to live after thirty years of middle-class flight. The Prince of the City is at once a fascinating character study, a history of New York over the last forty years, and an insight on how cities function. The story that Siegel tells culminates with an account of September 11, 2001, showing how Giuliani’s eight years in office had prepared him and the city to rise to the occasion.