The Origins of the Urban Crisis

How and when did all this start? Historian Thomas Sugrue shows that the peak of industrial employment in cities such as Detroit, the focus of this book, occurred in the 1940s. Then as hundreds of thousands of industrial jobs were lost in Detroit (and millions elsewhere in the US), the position of the urban working class deteriorated. This decline was an important source of the “urban crisis” that started in the 1960s.

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.

Sugrue’s seminal historical study helped me understand that deindustrialization in Detroit did not begin after the Rebellion of 1967, as many believe, but in the wake of World War II when White rule of the city was established and enforced segregation, which in turn created a great housing shortage for Black people and helped pave the way for the later riots. I was moved by the way Sugrue describes the terror Black families faced when they had the courage to move into all-White neighborhoods.