Detroit: An American Autopsy by Charlie LeDuff. Hardcover, 304 pages
Published
February 7th 2013
by The Penguin Press HC
ISBN 1594205345
(ISBN13: 9781594205347)
I finished this book in two days. It was like a train wreck-- I couldn't look away. I have been reviewing quite a few books about Detroit and the issues surrounding the every day life of people who live in the D. This title has a combination of witty prose, hearfelt pain, and a canny understanding of the people who have shaped and made Detroit the city it is today. LeDuff claims with evidence that Detroit has been a corrupt political landscape for at least a hundred years, and the common "line in the sand" that is 1967 rebellion was only a convulsion of a larger disease. He delves into many headline stories from Detroit's recent history, and tells us "the rest of the story." It is a well-researched book. Some might say that it is over the top reportage. However, LeDuff is outraged. He has every right to his anger, and shows us why he is so upset with everything that has happened in the city. The types of stories he tells are about the politicians, police, firemen, victims and criminals that are Detroit, as well as the people who have been left behind while the multi-national companies take their bailout money and move their factories elsewhere. Yes GM, Chrylser, and Ford have survived. They haven't shared any of their good fortune with the city of their birth.
LeDuff paints vibrant pictures of Kwame Kilpatrick and Monica Conyers, just two of the crooked politicians and the most recent of the steaming piles that is Detroit politics. The book was a great read; I believe it is an accurate picture and a heartfelt howl of rage and pain that many Detroiters feel but cannot so eloquently express.
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