Since the winter semester has ended I’ve finally had the time to read “Detroit: An American Autopsy” by Charlie LeDuff, published in February.
I recommend this book as a summer read. The book has been important this entire year, but it seems to be especially relevant now that Kevyn Orr, Detroit’s emergency manager, recently announced a partial default on some of the city’s debt.
My only criticism is that LeDuff doesn’t offer an autopsy which would show an exact cause of death.
To be fair LeDuff warns readers: “This is not a book about geopolitics or macroeconomics or global finance.”
The cause of death that LeDuff intermittently discusses could be overheard in casual conversation between former union men who lost their jobs at the now closed auto-plant. To be succinct Detroit is merely another Rust Belt locality which built itself around an industry, and when the industry floundered so did the city.
LeDuff instead offers a powerful narrative which speaks for those who cannot put their misery into words, and personalizes it all for those of us who live comfortably outside of the death zone but look on mournfully.
I wasn’t satisfied as a student of political science, but as a Michigander and a resident of Wayne County I felt I understood the people of Detroit better, an element that cannot be overstated.
Detroit’s culture is noteworthy, even spiritual, but even the record company Motown moved its headquarters out of Detroit. And the history of Berry Gordy, the songs of Smokey Robinson and the Miracles must offer very little solace to the inhabitants of a city that used to be great, but no longer is. As LeDuff writes to talk about “all the galleries and museums and music…” in the context of such decay would be equal to “writing about the surf conditions while reporting in the Gaza strip.”
LeDuff is the astronaut who lands on the moon, where people like me are only astronomers who look at the stars from afar. His perspective, as a veteran reporter, and Detroit native can really be appreciated in “Detroit.”
The veteran of Detroit News and The New York Times captures what cannot be captured with murder statistics or data on local debt. His outlook is not cynical and it is evident that he wants to be hopeful for a city he loves, yet it is clear: Detroit is dead.
