While Waiting for Rain

John Henry Schlegel is UB Distinguished Professor of Law and Floyd M. and Hilda L. Hurst Faculty Scholar at the University of Buffalo School of Law.

• Preface Introduction Part I -- Law and Economic Change in AmericaBefore 1865: An Archipelago of Agricultural/Trading EconomiesThe Seventies and Eighties: Competition and its AvoidanceThe Nineties and Teens: Trying To Tame Competition in the Real EconomyThe Twenties and Thirties: An Associationist IdealThe Forties and Fifties: Associationalism at WorkThe Sixties and Seventies: A Troubled EconomyThe Eighties and Nineties: Trying to Build an EconomyThe Twentieth Century: And Then It All CollapsedUnderstanding Economic ChangePart II – Community and Economic Change in America: Buffalo, Queen City of the Great Lakes Buffalo’s Geographic SettingThe Local GeographyBuffalo’s Community StructureBefore 1865: A Small, But Growing Place on the Niagara FrontierThe Seventies and Eighties: No Longer a Small TownThe Nineties and Teens: A Big CityThe Twenties and Thirties: Moving Ahead While Lagging BehindThe Forties and Fifties: “These Precious Days”The Sixties and Seventies: The Centre Did Not HoldThe Eighties and Nineties: Bottoming OutThe Twentieth Century: Maybe, . . .Hard To TellUnderstanding Economic Change in Buffalo: A CodaPart III – Thinking About Economic Development Cities and the Wealth of Nations RecountedOf NatureOf GraceOf the Invisible HandOf DriftSaving PiecesPart IV – Consider Buffalo Some Perspectives Strengths, Problems & Political ContextThe Difficulty of Avoiding Transactions of DeclineMaking Buffalo Attractive to the Middle ClassesAnd Well SchooledEt CeteraPart V – What Then About America?Some Perspectives on AmericaStrengths, Problems & Political ContextTransactions of Decline?Making America Attractive to the Middle ClassesAnd Well SchooledEt CeteraIs Conclusion Even Possible? A Note For Historians Acknowledgments Suggested Readings

“Once upon a time, the story of the economic history of the United States was also the story of Buffalo. In this incisive, illuminating, and beautifully written book, an eminent historian tells us why drought, metaphorically, dried up both the United States and Buffalo and explores how we should behave ‘while waiting for rain’ to restore them.”—Laura Kalman, Distinguished Research Professor, University of California, Santa Barbara