This book examines the interplay between government and society, analyzing the social capital both within the African American community and outside it, where social capital crosses racial lines. It shows that while Black social capital may have created solidarity against White domination in Baltimore, it hampered African American leaders' capacity to enlist cooperation from White corporate elites and suburban residents needed for school reform. The book features case studies of school reform activity, analyzing the politics surrounding Baltimore's decision to hire a private, for-profit firm to operate nine public schools. The cases illustrate the paradoxical aspects of African American social capital in city-wide school reform while offering critical perspectives on current debates about privatization, site-based management, and other reform alternatives. Ten chapters examine: (1) "Social Capital, Urban Regimes, and School Reform"; (2) "The Formation of Black Social Capital in Baltimore"; (3) "Patronage Culture and the Politics of Biracial Cooperation"; (4) "The Political Economy and City Schools, 1950-1990"; (5) "School Reform through Site-Based Management"; (6) "Neighborhood Mobilization: The Barclay and Stadium School Movements"; (7) "Civic Elites and the Baltimore Commonwealth"; (8) "The Defeat of Private Management"; (9) "School Reform and the City-State Connection"; and (10) "Lessons from the Baltimore Experience." (Contains approximately 690 endnotes.) (SM)