In closely reported stories from the streets of New York to the seats of intellectual power, Heather Mac Donald, one of the best of our urban journalists, considers the upside-down world of public policy and the entrenchment of foolish ideas. Examining the real-world consequences of these ideas, Ms. Mac Donald argues that they grow out of a powerful set of values that have governed our public policy for decades, the product of university faculties and a professional elite who are convinced that America is a deeply unjust society.