Why this book?
While somewhat dry and academic, this book is essential to understanding how Detroit ended up as “Murder City” and the butt of late night jokes. This book is practically handed out with little packets of Tide when moving into the city for anyone who wants to understand how we may overcome, and not repeat, the mistakes of the past.
Many of the insights drawn from my work—and others on this list—have roots in this research, and it’s indispensable for understanding not just Detroit's history, but the American history of cities. It’s well worth the effort.
The Origins of the Urban Crisis: Race and Inequality in Postwar Detroit
Why should I read it?
3 authors picked The Origins of the Urban Crisis as one of their favorite books, and they share why you should read it.
What is this book about?
Once America's "arsenal of democracy," Detroit is now the symbol of the American urban crisis. In this reappraisal of America's racial and economic inequalities, Thomas Sugrue asks why Detroit and other industrial cities have become the sites of persistent racialized poverty. He challenges the conventional wisdom that urban decline is the product of the social programs and racial fissures of the 1960s. Weaving together the history of workplaces, unions, civil rights groups, political organizations, and real estate agencies, Sugrue finds the roots of today's urban poverty in a hidden history of racial violence, discrimination, and deindustrialization that reshaped the American…
