The Medical Metropolis

Simpson demonstrates the impressive depth and breadth of his research. He not only chronicles the major developments in the health care industry in each city, he also peels back the curtain on the internal deliberations of the major players as they made strategic decisions. These details provide useful insights for those interested in nonprofit governance and public-private partnerships, particularly in the context of urban economic development. Likewise, these case studies chronicle how national trends in American health care throughout the 20th century affected local health care industries. * <i>Journal of Urban Affairs</i> * Access to health care remains near the center of American political discourse. Based on two local studies, Andrew T. Simpson deftly explains the economic imperatives of postwar urban sprawl in molding the shifting relationship between medical centers and the communities they serve. * Guenter B. Risse, author of <i>Mending Bodies, Saving Souls: A History of Hospitals</i> * Well framed and full of insights for audiences in urban history, business history, health policy, and the history of medicine, this book interleaves the soaring visions and sobering realities of two American cities that sought to promote hopeful social and economic futures by investing in not-for profit health institutions. By situating the uncontrolled growth of U.S. healthcare expenditures alongside deliberate local and regional plans to realize civic improvement through healthcare revenues, Andrew T. Simpson firmly establishes the role of place, contingency, and governance in shaping the seemingly ungovernable system that threatens to bankrupt municipal economies at the same time that it promises to save them. * Jeremy Greene, author of <i>Generic: The Unbranding of Modern Medicine</i> *