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Lost Detroit: Stories Behind The Motor City's Majestic Ruins (2010)

by Dan Austin(Favorite Author)

4.2 of 5 Votes: 4

ISBN

1596299401 (ISBN13: 9781596299405)

languge

English

genre

History & Biography

publisher

History Press (SC)

review 1: Obviously Detroit has suffered more than other American cities--economic collapse due to reliance on a fading auto industry, unresolved racial tensions in the metropolitan area, startling incompetence of the city government for decades. This handsome book, replete with lively text and remarkable then/now photos, reflects all of that, certainly, but it is also a sobering look at the larger issues of rise and fall. Take Lee Plaza, opened in 1928 but already unstable by 1931. The Depression, of course, but also a move from residential hotels to private homes doomed it from inception. Look to this book to see how economics, politics, taste, and cultural shifts can cripple a city in mere decades, a city like Detroit, that rose to nearly 2,000,00 people, a city that was once the... more Arsenal of Democracy. Think of the Roman Empire, the Ottoman Empire, the British Empire. Then contemplate humility. Then abhor absurd notions such as American Exceptionalism. Carl Sandburg, "At the Gate of Tombs": Civilizations are set up and knocked down / the same as pins in a bowling alley. / Civilizations get into the garbage wagons / and are hauled away the same as potato / peelings or pot scrapings...
review 2: After a recent visit to Detroit, I was curious to find out more about this once majestic city that had gone to ruin. The book details 12 abandoned buildings that have gone to ruin in photos along with a short historical essay. The historical details seem a bit slim and seem to skip a lot of the political and socio-economic upheavals that Detroit has encountered along its history, but the photos are great and it's interesting regardless. less

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