You can see that decline on Google Earth or with Google Street View. He covers the other aspects of Detroit’s crash and burn, the racial divide, the departure of the white population and the city’s shift to an overwhelming black majority, the crazy politics, the lousy schools, the crime statistics and, of course, the tumbling population. Mark grew up in Detroit, so he’s not a quick-glance visitor grooving on the city’s ‘ruins porn.’ His book traces the rise and fall of the industry that created Detroit – this is where Henry Ford created the assembly line and mass production, Detroit was the Motor City well before it had its Motown music heyday and later on its period as a pioneer of punk and a birthplace of techno. There’s a great line about using Detroit as a movie set, because it was ‘after all, not merely a set designed to resemble a ruined American city but an actual ruined American city.’ Mark has written for Rolling Stone and indeed this reads like a Rolling Stone page turner, a tale of alternate shock and awe. I’ve just read Mark Binelli’s superb book about the decline and fall – and perhaps rebirth – of Detroit. Detroit – a place to be on its last days? Thursday, 4 July 2013
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