Review Essay Susan D. Phillips School of Public Administration Carleton University Karen Herland, People, Potholes and City Politics (Montreal: Black Rose Books, 1992). Shlomo Hasson and David Ley, Neighbourhood Organizations and the Welfare State (Toronto: University of Toronto Press, 1994). Henri Lustiger-Thaler (éd.), Political Arrangements: Power and the City (Montreal: Black Rose Books, 1992). Vered Amit-Talai and Henri Lustiger-Thaler (eds.), Urban Lives: Fragmentation and Resistance (Toronto: McClelland & Stewart, 1994). Collectively these four volumes mark, however tentatively and unevenly, the beginning of a significant new direction in the study of Canadian urban politics. They begin to move us away from the traditional focus on structures and services to a closer examination of the relationship between urban governments and civil society. While they point us down these exciting new paths, none of these books provides an adequate road map to help us complete the journey. Nevertheless, some of the themes that emerge from these volumes are useful starting points.