Once in a Great City

Once in a Great City, A Detroit Story, by David Maraniss, Simon & Schuster 2015

Only David Maraniss could produce this rich, well-researched and moving picture of Detroit as we would like to remember it - a city with endless opportunity, established wealth, powerful institutions, big manufacturing, workers, transportation, credibility, a place now only recognizable in our memories, and in pockets of steady revival.  But never mind all that, allow yourself the luxury of following Maraniss' chronicle of the city at its best.  

Although the author focuses his camera on just 1 1/2 years of this struggling giant because Maraniss, who was born in Detroit, wants to convey more than the bare facts of the city's fall, its commerce and population, he wants us to feel the excitement that pulsed through its streets.  What happened?  Labor unions, what Maraniss calls unfair housing laws, and global competition quickly broke down Detroit's institutions.