Robert Wagner was New York City's true New Deal mayor, killed Tammany Hall. The world Wagner shaped delivers municipal services efficiently at the cost of local democracy. The story of Wagner's mayoralty will be of interest to anyone who cares about New York City, local democracy and the debate about the legacy of the City's important leaders.

Richard M. Flanagan is Associate Professor of Political Science at City College of New York, College of Staten Island, USA. He is the author of Mayors and the Challenge of Urban Leadership (2004) and is principal investigator of the Staten Island Social Capital Community Benchmark Study, the first comprehensive study of social behavior in the borough using survey research techniques.

1. Introduction: Robert F. Wagner, the Forgotten Mayor 2. The Concept of the 'Plebiscitary Mayoralty' i. The Incomplete New Deal in New York 3. Mayor Robert F. Wagner and the Unfinished Business of the New Deal i. Wagner and Organized Labor ii. Wagner and the Welfare State iii. Wagner and Fiscal Policy 4. The Break: The Fight for Charter Reform and the 1961 Mayoral Election i. Wagner, the Democratic Party and the 1961 Mayoral Campaign 5. The New Wagner Mayoralty and the Shaping of Modern New York 6. In the Shadow of Wagner: Plebiscitary Politics in New York City i. The Institutional Mayoralty ii. The Civic Mayoralty iii. The de Blasio Moment