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Violence in the Model City: The Cavanagh Administration, Race Relations, and the Detroit Riot of 1967
On July 23, 1967, the Detroit police raided a blind pig (after-hours drinking establishment), touching off the most destructive urban riot of the 1960s. It took the U.S. Army, the Michigan National Guard, the Michigan State Police, and the Detroit police department―17,000 men―more than a week to restore order. When all was done, the riot had claimed 43 lives (mostly Black) and resulted in nearly 700 injuries. Over 7,000 individuals were arrested, with property damage estimates over $75 million. Yet, Detroit had been lauded nationally as a "model city" in the governance of a large industrial metropolis. On the 40th anniversary of this nation-changing event, we are pleased to reissue Sidney Fine's seminal work―a detailed study of what happened, why, and with what consequences.
668 pages, Paperback
First published June 1, 1989
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About the author
Sidney Fine
32 books2 followersA historian of modern America, Sidney Fine taught at the University of Michigan. He earned his B.A. from Western Reserve University in 1942 and his M.A. (1944) and Ph.D. (1948) in history from the University of Michigan. His areas of interest included history of the American labor movement, the New Deal, and the history of Michigan and its political environment.
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Displaying 1 - 7 of 7 reviews
October 7, 2013
This EXTREMELY thorough study of the 1967 riots is must-reading for anyone hoping to gain an understanding of the climate and culture leading up to the riots, what occurred on each day/night of the riots, and the fall-out and resulting race relations and public initiatives afterward. It covers concerns as wide-ranging as education, housing, police-community relations, arson, looting, sniping, prominent public figures, many organizations devoted to achieving racial peace and reconciliation, controversial incidents during the riot (such as the Algiers Motel incident and various suspicious or tragic deaths), police brutality and the abuse of prisoners, and more. After reading it I cannot say that I know exactly the whys and wherefores, simply because the layers of influencing factors are so very thick, but I most certainly have a better understanding of what actually happened.
July 11, 2009
Fine’s scholarly analysis of Detroit before, during, and after the 1967 riot is a comprehensive and thorough account of an American tragedy. Although the alphabet soup of organizations and Fine’s tendency to jump around chronologically, not to mention the incredible wealth of information presented, can be a bit disorienting, the text is very readable. Although first published in 1989, the work is still painfully relevant, and it’s hard to believe Violence in the Model City ever went out of print.
September 17, 2020
I called this book my textbook. It was full of a lot of good information it was just very dense and at time, hard to read. It was a consolidation of reports written before and after the riots, an analysis of the political players and situation during the riots, and some followup interviews done for this book. I learned a LOT about the climate and programs happening in Detroit at that time. It put the protests and riots of today in a historical context. It helps to see how things really haven't changed (or if they have, they haven't necessarily changed for the better).
Some of the most interesting to me:
Before the riot, Detroit was called the Model City because of it's progressive nature in giving black people opportunity. But it was clearly not opportunity at the same rate as white people.
In 1975, after the economic leaders of the city (Hudson, Ford, etc), headed a group of diverse people to create programs for those who need it and that group declined, "one executive conceded, 'you lose interest if people aren't creating trouble for you.'" - page 447
After Young was elected, he put black people in charge of more things. In 1976, another survey was given (there were a lot of surveys handed out between 1967 and 1979). "Whatever Detroit's problems, and they were enormous, blacks, in control of the city, no longer had that 'desolate feeling of estrangement, of being on the outside looking in' that they had had before 1967. 'Blacks look on this as our city now,' declared the black vice president of Detroit Renaissance n 1978, by which time the mayor, the chief of police, the superintendent of schools, five of the nine council members, and eight of the thirteen members of the Detroit Board of Education were black. The riot, by speeding up the white exodus from Detroit that was already underway, had shortened the time leading to black political control of the city, but economic power continued to be in white hands." page 458
In terms of statistics of quality, Detroit was worse off in 1987 compared to 1967. page 461
Why wasn't there a riot in 1987 then? If black people in Detroit were better off in 1967, why did they riot? Fine suggested that the riot "was born of hope, not of despair, the hope that improvement would follow the disorder in the streets." p 462
The book ends with a poignant quote from reporter Barbara Stanton:
"The 'inescapable reality,' she remarked, was that there was 'far more destruction and violence in 1987 than in 1967....it is,' she wrote, 'as if the riot had never ended, but goes on in slow motion. Instead of a single, stupendous explosion, there is a steady, relentless corrosion.' The the question, 'Could it happen again?' her sad answer was, 'It is happening right now, a riot without end, a tragedy still without resolution.'" page 463
Some of the most interesting to me:
Before the riot, Detroit was called the Model City because of it's progressive nature in giving black people opportunity. But it was clearly not opportunity at the same rate as white people.
In 1975, after the economic leaders of the city (Hudson, Ford, etc), headed a group of diverse people to create programs for those who need it and that group declined, "one executive conceded, 'you lose interest if people aren't creating trouble for you.'" - page 447
After Young was elected, he put black people in charge of more things. In 1976, another survey was given (there were a lot of surveys handed out between 1967 and 1979). "Whatever Detroit's problems, and they were enormous, blacks, in control of the city, no longer had that 'desolate feeling of estrangement, of being on the outside looking in' that they had had before 1967. 'Blacks look on this as our city now,' declared the black vice president of Detroit Renaissance n 1978, by which time the mayor, the chief of police, the superintendent of schools, five of the nine council members, and eight of the thirteen members of the Detroit Board of Education were black. The riot, by speeding up the white exodus from Detroit that was already underway, had shortened the time leading to black political control of the city, but economic power continued to be in white hands." page 458
In terms of statistics of quality, Detroit was worse off in 1987 compared to 1967. page 461
Why wasn't there a riot in 1987 then? If black people in Detroit were better off in 1967, why did they riot? Fine suggested that the riot "was born of hope, not of despair, the hope that improvement would follow the disorder in the streets." p 462
The book ends with a poignant quote from reporter Barbara Stanton:
"The 'inescapable reality,' she remarked, was that there was 'far more destruction and violence in 1987 than in 1967....it is,' she wrote, 'as if the riot had never ended, but goes on in slow motion. Instead of a single, stupendous explosion, there is a steady, relentless corrosion.' The the question, 'Could it happen again?' her sad answer was, 'It is happening right now, a riot without end, a tragedy still without resolution.'" page 463
February 3, 2026
Probably the definitive report on this incident. I got to page 55 then I put it down. I wanted to study this incident a few years back and I got like 4 books on the subject. I read like 3 of them including this one. I read one book completely then this and one on the Algiers Hotel incident just dragged on too long!
As far as this one is concerned it is very long with large pages if I may add. I just am simply not interested in the subject anymore. I'm sure if your into what happened like almost 60 years ago in Detroit you would take interest in this book. I just wasn't enthused regarding this matter. after like 400 or so pages it contains all the notes.
As far as this one is concerned it is very long with large pages if I may add. I just am simply not interested in the subject anymore. I'm sure if your into what happened like almost 60 years ago in Detroit you would take interest in this book. I just wasn't enthused regarding this matter. after like 400 or so pages it contains all the notes.
March 6, 2017
Really good book. Interesting, but dry. Very informative and as someone who lived through this I mainly agreed with the recollection. I remember a few things differently, but I think he put the historian touch to some of the more inflammatory portions. Would recommend to anyone interested in the riots.
November 25, 2020
Tremendously useful for my History Internal Assessment, with excellent structure and great detail.
December 1, 2010
Holy moly this book is comprehensive, sometimes to a fault. Fine has a tendency to rattle off long paragraphs of survey and demographic data, which might have been better represented in a few tables or charts.
That said, the narrative portion of the book is compelling. Fine makes strong arguments against Sugrue's perspective (The Origins of the Urban Crisis) on the causes of 1967 riots. He doesn't disagree with the injustices Sugrue describes, but helps put them in context of many other cities where no riot or less destructive riots occurred.
It's dense and occasionally a bit of a slog, but absolutely worth it for anyone wanting to learn more about the Detroit Race Riots of 1967.
That said, the narrative portion of the book is compelling. Fine makes strong arguments against Sugrue's perspective (The Origins of the Urban Crisis) on the causes of 1967 riots. He doesn't disagree with the injustices Sugrue describes, but helps put them in context of many other cities where no riot or less destructive riots occurred.
It's dense and occasionally a bit of a slog, but absolutely worth it for anyone wanting to learn more about the Detroit Race Riots of 1967.
Displaying 1 - 7 of 7 reviews