A People's History of Detroit

by Mark Jay, Philip Conklin

Recent bouts of gentrification and investment in Detroit have led some to call it the greatest turnaround story in American history. Meanwhile, activists point to the city's cuts to public services, water shutoffs, mass foreclosures, and violent police raids. In A People's History of Detroit, Mark Jay and Philip Conklin use a class framework to tell a sweeping story of Detroit from 1913 to the present, embedding Motown's history in a global economic context. Attending to the struggle between corporate elites and radical working-class organizations, Jay and Conklin outline the complex sociopolitical dynamics underlying major events in Detroit's past, from the rise of Fordism and the formation of labor unions, to deindustrialization and the city's recent bankruptcy. They demonstrate that Detroit's history is not a tale of two cities—one of wealth and development and another racked by poverty and racial violence; rather it is the story of a single Detroit that operates according to capitalism's mandates.

Genres: History, American History, Urbanism

320 pages, Hardcover

Published April 17, 2020

About the author

Mark Jay is a PhD candidate in sociology at the University of California, Santa Barbara. He is coeditor, along with Philip Conklin, of the literary and political magazine The Periphery.

Reviews

[Annie Beaubien · Rating 4 out of 5]

This book provided an excellent overview of Detroit's history, especially parts that as a native Detroiter I was completely unaware of, like the League of Revolutionary Black Workers. My biggest critique is while this work lays out the source of many of Detroit's problems today, it provides almost no guidance as to how these can be addressed. I would have appreciated a longer, more in depth conclusion; it felt as though it ended a bit abruptly. It makes sense to start the book with where Detroit is today, but I think this could have been revisited more at the end, as well. However, despite this, I would still highly recommend this to anyone who wishes to learn more about the history of Detroit and gain insight into where we are today.

[Todd · Rating 5 out of 5]

A fascinating history of the city that's willing to give a more critical perspective to both the current revival and the "Golden Era"

A must read for any Metro Detroit area activists