As I was reading this book a news flash appeared that confirmed former Detroit Mayor Kwami Kilpatrick was convicted of corruption and will likely spend many more years in jail. Kilpatrick is one of several corrupt Detroit officials who appear in LeDuff's literary assassination of the city and its government. In his account public officials steal, lie, and cover-up. They don't fix things. They divert public funds. Businessmen are either corrupt or incompetent or simply uncaring. Policemen and firemen are heroes. Their bosses are careerist and often as corrupt as the politicians. LeDuff goes some distance to concluding that one of Detroit's main problems is that they no longer have the tax base to support public services. But he would add that even if they did have the tax base, somebody would steal it. Is his book really about Detroit? Is it about capitalism? Democracy? Democrats? Or just man's inhumanity to man. I have to think about it a little more deeply before I decide myself. The writing and the reportage is very moving. The death of children caught in the crossfire, finding a homeless man frozen in ice, a fireman caught in a burning building, street banter amongst the dispossessed. All are rendered very real and very frightening. ( )

A decidedly male portrait of a complex city. Detroit noir. The author did a great job of connecting the chapters and vignettes. He writes out of utter respect for the tragic foibles of man. And woman. It’s a city that breaks your heart, because it is committed to. Still, there is a dignity in a poverty of means and spirit that sends the eyes heavenly. There are no lost cities. Particular people with utterly no concept of leadership and community, and sadly monied interests, lose them. ( )

A brief story by a ballsy reporter [see also his interview on Fresh Air] that nails Detroit. I found it refreshing to read a story about a city and its corruption. The corruption in society is usually ignored, certainly in my state, the whole of which runs like a small town - but it is accentuated in Detroit, because everything else that one might consider worthwhile has shriveled up. ( )

Charlie LeDuff, a street-savy journalist, writes about the demise of his home town of Detroit. It's probable that most Americans are aware of the problems of Detroit - collapse of the automotive industry and manufacturing, resulting in the loss of jobs, huge local unemployment, and a decreasing tax base. And these problems led to the decline in public services, failing schools, rising crime rates, increasing drug use, the abandonment of homes, arson, and unfortunately, continuing corruption of public officials. LeDuff brings the story to life by talking to and about real people, not simply by a litany of dry statistics. By describing these problems through the eyes and voices of real people of Detroit, the problems are made all the clearer and that much sadder. ( )

Lots of detailed stories about corruption and decay in Detroit. Not particularly pleasant to read, and while I’ve already written off Detroit, the scary thing is there are plenty of other places in the US which will end up in the same place for the same reasons. ( )