Growing up in Detroit I would occasionally hear some fact or other, there was a race riot in Detroit in 1943, there was a mayor of Detroit in the 20's or 30's whose party was the Ku Klux Klan, that Henry Ford openly distributed copies of the Protocols of the Elders of Zion, etc., but if I looked at any of the histories of the city available to me (I have one in front of me written by someone at Ford Motor Co.) there is no mention of these things. Scott Martelle's book doesn't just mention these things, that is what it is about. As terrible as the history of Detroit is, the book is a pleasure to read. There are many insightful comments, e.g that there is no Ford or Chrysler University, and a bigger portrait is painted of many interesting Detroiters, e.g. Coleman Young, than I have seen elsewhere. Others have complained that the book is written with a liberal point of view, and that is certainly true, but a bigger falsehood would be to ignore it all, as most white suburbanite accounts do. The book is relatively short and Detroit is, or was, a big city with a long history, so many things go unmentioned or only touched on. Did Mayor Cavanaugh have ties to the Mafia? What was the nature and extent of Union corruption? What was the extent of police department corruption in the last 50 years? What role did the big three play in the absence of public transportation in the modern city?
This book would be much better if it had some historically appropriate maps in it. In fact I think you could take the illustrations from a crappier history of the city and insert them with happy consequences. ( )

I learned some early history of Detroit from this book. Unfortunately, the tone of the book was heavily biased and overtly blamed racism for all the ills of the city and the author seemed able to conjecture intent when no one else has been able to do so. The theme was definitely racism and the author tried to plant that as an evil in Detroit's history as early as the beginning of 1800 - not sure how he could do that without substantiation. He only glossed over Coleman Young and only mentioned Kwame Kilpatrick in one sentence without referring to all his associated scandals. ( )

Scott Martelle provided some good early history of Detroit and much needed information about race relations of the city but I felt like this was a one dimensional book focused almost exclusively on race relations. I agree with some of the other reviewers, Detroit A Biography left me wishing he had done a real biography of the city. In this case the cover might actually be an indicator of how to judge the book—it is a very dark and forbidding picture. When I think of a biography I think of a full story. I was also looking for a full history is of the city’s amazing sports legends, Joe Louis and others teams, Art Deco architecture, world class art museum, the other ethnic groups and neighborhoods such as Poletown and Greektown, and other industries. There is little if any references to these topics. When it comes to specific periods like the Civil War or the 1973 oil embargo again it all turns to a focus on race relations and little about the larger historical impacts on the city. A misleading title. I’m Still looking for a real biography but the background was useful. ( )

The author Scott Martelle is a crazy left wing nut job who apparently has done some historic research. Not fun hippie libreal, more like crazy thinks-encourgaging-violence-as-long-as-its-against-those-who-thought-up-the-plan-to-make-a-company-succeed Socialist liberal.

William Hughes, the reader of the a udio book, is an over educated twerp who insists on pronouncing things "correctly" (*read wrong*) [think MAY-CUM count instead of Macomb and Grey-twa Avenue instead of Gratiot)

The begin is interesting enough going back to tribal days and early French settlers. Hughes pronunciation was already annoying here, but I thought he'd change once Michigan joined the union, nope.

By the time we get to the industrial revolution Martelle is so blinded by hatred of capitalism that he cannot point out the valuable contributions Henry Ford and his competitors gave to the region other than jobs which apparently should be an Americans natural birth right.

All in all this one sided look at history is worth skipping. The more well rounded (though unfortunately shorter and more personal "Detroit An American Autopsy" is far better). ( )

An excellent, brief introduction to Detroit's history with a heavy emphasis on the economy.

Book Riot Read Harder Challenge | Task 4: Indie Press ( )