Dr. Bruce Berg, chair of Fordham University's political science department, has a story he has told so many times that he sometimes forgets whether or not it actually happened.
"I'm pretty sure this is true, but I was in class complaining that there is nothing good to read on New York City politics," Berg said. "Then someone in the back yelled, 'So why don't you write something?'"
Ten years later, Berg had taken the recommendation and written New York City Politics: Governing Gotham, which he said "attempts to explain the forces that influence those elected or appointed officials who make the key policy decisions in running the city."
Berg developed an interest in politics early in life, raised in Washington, D.C. by politically active parents.
"[In D.C.], local news is national news," Berg said. "I caught the bug that my parents caught."
He went on to earn an undergraduate degree in government and political science from Franklin and Marshall College in Pennsylvania, before acquiring a Master's from Purdue University and a Ph.D. from American University.
In 1977, Berg accepted a job offer from Fordham University, where he has been ever since. Though initially he was intimidated by New York City, a place he knew little about, this soon yielded to an admiration of its intellectual and cultural diversity.
"You would think that being a political scientist, D.C. would be a great place to live, but D.C. is such a one-company town," Berg said. "But here, there's Wall Street, there's the arts, and then there's government."
"New York City politics represents the confluence on my interests in urban politics and federal -state-local relations and public policy," Berg said.
Prior to writing his book, he felt surprised to find himself dealing with the local government while helping form a Little League in Manhattan's Upper West Side. Berg and his associates lobbied the city council and parks department just to keep the league running.Between the mid-1980s and 1990s, Berg competed with other groups to reserve the much-needed (and rarely available) field space for the children.
2008 Woodie Awards
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