According to Barbara Jackson, public schools are and always have been part of the political process, and any effective school superintendent must maintain a delicate balance among forces and interests both political and educational. This book reviews the long history of the urban superintendent’s changing role, with special attention to the racial and ethnic politics of the cities since the 1970s. Boston and Detroit are discussed as illustrative examples. The entire study is grounded in a wide range of published and unpublished information, including numerous interviews with urban superintendents and others in the field. Co-published with the Joint Center for Political and Economic Studies Press.