Detroit City Is The Place To Be: The Afterlife of an American Metropolis

Novelist and Rolling Stone contributing editor Binelli's first nonfiction book is a nuanced portrait of a once-great American industrial city that decades ago fell into decay, but which is, as of late, experiencing a ray of hope. As fascinating as Detroit's current, tentative renaissance is, Binelli masterfully provides a broader story, a 300-year tour through the formerly wondrous and now wondrously devastated metropolis. A child of suburban Detroit, Binelli (Sacco and Vinzetti MustDie!) astonishes with spot-on research, fluid prose, and a discerning eye for the peculiar, including reports of early French frontiersmen and late %E2%80%9860s rock revolutionaries, the MC5. The author immersed himself in Motor City culture while writing the volume. From Henry Ford's auto and steel boom and the race riots of the 1960s and early %E2%80%9870s to the dark ages of widespread crack addiction and the current resurgence led by enterprising idealists, urban farmers, and DIY go-getters, Binelli offers a wildly compelling biography of a city as well as a profound commentary on postindustrial America. Photos. Agent: Jim Rutman, Sterling Lord Literistic. (Nov.)