A People's History of DetroitRecent 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. |
Other editions - View all
Common terms and phrases
activists African Americans American arrested auto industry Babson Black against Empire Black Panther Black Panther Party Black Power Bloom and Martin Boggs capital capitalist city’s civil rights Cockrel Coleman Young Communist corporate crime criminal Dan Gilbert Detroit Free Press economic elites factory federal Ford’s foreclosure gentrification Georgakas and Surkin Gilbert global Grace Lee Boggs groups Henry Ford housing Ilitch Incarcerating the Crisis investment July Kenneth Cockrel Kurashige labor leaders League of Revolutionary League’s Malcolm X Marable Marian Kramer Marx Marxist Mass Incarceration Mayor Metro Michigan militant million Motor City movement mythology National Negro neighborhoods Neoliberalism officers organization People’s percent plant Poletown police postwar poverty prison problem production racial radical raids Rebellion redevelopment repression residents resilience revitalization Revolutionary Black Workers riot schools social Stauch Streets strike struggle thousand unemployment union United uprising violence wage Wildcat Young