Using information that has never been collected before, along with many interviews with cab drivers (or "hacks"), Charles Vidich has written a basic work on the New York City cab drivers that also gives their fares a "Manual for Survival." Cab drivers are quoted by newspaper columnists, politicians, and at numberless dinner parties; yet a hard look at the profession and its role in the transportation system of the city has been completely lacking. The conflicts between the hack's position as dispenser of a public service and his needs as a working person subjected to violence and pressure are...