This work investigates how macro-level economic and political shifts during the New York City fiscal crisis of the 1970s fundamentally altered the social fabric and survival strategies of a multi-ethnic working-class neighborhood. Ida Susser, an anthropologist, utilizes three years of intensive ethnographic fieldwork in the Greenpoint and Williamsburg sections of Brooklyn to document these changes. By examining the intersection of local community networks and broader municipal policy, the author argues that neighborhood stability is inextricably linked to the political agency of its residents.

Scholars and urban sociologists frequently cite this text as a foundational ethnographic study of New York City during a period of intense economic contraction. Readers often note the clarity of the prose and the author's ability to synthesize complex political data with intimate, human-centered narratives.