The old city remains, finding new specialties to justify its persistence. Most noteworthy of these is a role as an Indian reservation for socially undesired persons, and for those who manage them for the rest of society. (JM)

Argues that, as a matter of social ethics, the government should undertake policies to mitigate the economic marginality of those languishing in the ghettos of America and that affirmative-action policies are necessary and justified. Presents a new model for affirmative action and explores various moral and political considerations. (GR)

Discusses the problems of public policy responses to the AIDS epidemic in relation to a number of recent research reports and analyses. Suggests that effective policy will be increasingly difficult to formulate as AIDS becomes focused in the Black and Hispanic ghettos. (FMW)

Comprises "The Underclass and the Great Migration" (N. Lemann) and "The Migrants' Tale and Ghetto Culture" (D. Whitman). Lemann's book "The Promised Land" discusses the Black migration to northern U.S. states. Whitman argues that Lemann exaggerates the Black sharecropper's contribution to the development of the…

Reviews "The Truly Disadvantaged: The Inner City, the Underclass, and Public Policy," by William Julius Wilson. Criticizes Wilson's analysis of the rising number of out-of-wedlock births and female-headed households among Blacks. (FMW)