I live in a small town in Alaska. The mayor, Mrs. Porter used to live on my street, and would have my daughters over to back cookies with her. Yup we are talking small town USA.
One day Mayor Porter returned from a competition to name our town an all American City with a copy of Boomtown. Not being one to do what I'm told, I put off reading it until I forgot where the recommendation came from.
Don't make my mistake. If you care about the quality of life in your town, if you care about good governance, if you simply care, read Boomtown as soon as you can.