Political scientist Steven Erie challenges the conventional view of Irish-American political machines as engines of immigrant incorporation and upward mobility. Examining machines in New York, Chicago, San Francisco, and three other cities, he demonstrates that these organizations primarily benefited a narrow stratum of Irish politicians and their allies, while doing little for later immigrant groups or even for the Irish working class. Erie shows how machines allocated jobs, contracts, and services to maintain their power rather than to maximize immigrant welfare, and how their strategies of minimal winning coalitions excluded many potential beneficiaries. The book traces the rise of Irish machines from the Civil War through their decline in the mid-twentieth century, examining how they adapted to changing political environments and demographic pressures. Erie gives particular attention to the relationship between machines and organized labor, showing how urban bosses sometimes allied with and sometimes opposed union power depending on their political needs. His analysis complicates nostalgic accounts of machine politics as neighborhood democracy, revealing them as sophisticated organizations pursuing survival and advantage. For readers interested in urban politics, immigration, or political organization, this work provides essential historical analysis with implications for understanding contemporary political coalition-building.