The Opposition…

Detroit: An American Autopsy

Charlie LeDuff

Discussion: 2013-Apr-May-Jun

Why we're reading this: April 9, 2013
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2013-Apr-May-Jun

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* June 2013
By Tiffany , WristStrong · 1 post · 28 views

last updated Jun 28, 2013 04:44PM

* May 2013
By Tiffany , WristStrong · 1 post · 30 views

last updated May 25, 2013 02:53PM

What Members Thought

Jul 03, 2013 judy rated it it was amazing

Shelves: non-fiction

I have rarely, if ever, read a book so gut wrenching on a personal level. Like many residents or former residents of beautiful Michigan, contacts with Detroit, its people and its problems, run in the background of my life. I must have arrived from the East at just the right moment or perhaps just the moment. The author dates the start of Detroit's demise to some 40 years back. I can't say it was sudden but it certainly was obvious that the downhill slide had begun. Cobo Hall, in its first incarn I have rarely, if ever, read a book so gut wrenching on a personal level. Like many residents or former residents of beautiful Michigan, contacts with Detroit, its people and its problems, run in the background of my life. I must have arrived from the East at just the right moment or perhaps just the moment. The author dates the start of Detroit's demise to some 40 years back. I can't say it was sudden but it certainly was obvious that the downhill slide had begun. Cobo Hall, in its first incarnation, was still the biggest show in town. Great place for state-wide political conventions (and the Auto Show)but you were warned to take care going to and from your hotel or a restaurant to the Hall. Detroit was that kind of place. Coleman Young was still a charming force of nature in the Legislature but soon he would become the first Black mayor of a major American city and start the first of his five terms. Fast forward a few decades and the trouble is obvious. The massive school system, the third largest in the nation, is struggling to keep kids in school and turn out educated students. How is it possible with a corps of elegant, dignified, intelligent and dedicated Ph.D administrators, the products of many city schools could fail so miserably? The picture of the largely vacant, broken down city painted by the author is almost too much to take. It's easier when he focuses on his own life and the people he meets. Sure, it's gangs, corruption, children dying from shots gone astray but you can get that in Chicago and other large cites, not to mention every night on cable. What is different about Detroit is the wholesale abandonment of neighborhoods, factories and shops. Detroit is tough but how do you come back from that? The author doesn't have answers, no one does, but he does have a riveting story told with humor, pathos, unflinching detail. If you didn't know he was a reporter and his stories are real, you would congratulate yourself on picking such such a fascinating, entertaining, hard core read. ...more

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Dec 13, 2015 Andy rated it really liked it

When LeDuff describes his newspaper articles, it is what reporting is supposed to be: afflicting the comfortable and comforting the afflicted, while checking facts.
This book is good writing with a tone of wry humor to keep the bad news from being overwhelming.
LeDuff makes a good case for why Detroit is representative of all America. And so his autopsy determination that the culture of incompetence and corruption killed Detroit is relevant more broadly.

5 likes · Like · see review

Nov 04, 2013 Linda rated it it was amazing · review of another edition

Shelves: audio, ohio-e-book-project

Usually my ruler of a five-star book would be how quickly I turn the pages, how often I put it down. In this case, since it was an audiobook, it was however my earbuds were planted in my aural orifices (sorry, I couldn't stop myself). By logistics, I should not have finished this book until sometime after St. Patrick's day since I had it on my iPad that I listen to at work. I have stolen every minute I could to read (listen) to this book.
Detroit was my backyard for almost a half century (until I ...more

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