"When acid rain from industrial air pollution damages the natural resources of communities located hundreds of miles away, who should be responsible? When national tax reform takes a toll on the finances of states, what should be done? These are but a few of the controversies that arise from the American system of federalism - a complex and interdependent system of more than 85,000 federal, state, and local governments. American Intergovernmental Relations provides a broad survey of the system's historical development and its current structure, combining editorial comment with a selection of readings that range from classic documents to analyses of today's most pressing intergovernmental issues and disputes."--BOOK JACKET.