Reddit reviews The Origins of the Urban Crisis: Race and Inequality in Postwar Detroit - Updated Edition (Princeton Classics)

• "52 Pickup," "Swag," "Unknown Man #89," "The Switch" and "City Primeval: High Noon in Detroit" -- masterful crime novels by Elmore Leonard, aka the Dickens of Detroit.
  "If you’re writing crime fiction, you couldn’t pick a better American city," says his son Peter, also a local novelist.
  
  
• "The Turner House" by Detroit native Angela Flournoy, a well-reviewed 2015 novel (her first) set on the east side. It became a National Book Award finalist.
  
  
• "Detroit: A Biography" by Scott Martelle (nonfiction). "I spent nearly a decade as a journalist in Detroit, and became infatuated with the city as a story."
  
  
• "Detroit: An American Autopsy," a 2013 memoir/narrative by Charlie LeDuff.
  
  
• "The Origins of the Urban Crisis: Race and Inequality in Postwar Detroit ," an essential 1996 classic (reissued in a 2014 paperback) by influential historian Thomas Sugrue, a Detroit native.
  
  
• "How to Live in Detroit Without Being a Jackass," by u/akfoley -- a helpful, humorous, savvy guide for newcomers, returnees and anyone who wants to come correct. Originally dropped in 2015, get the 2018 second edition (updated).

> The demos should move into a city their policies raped.

Go read a fucking book, you ignorant wretch.

Once in a Great City: A Detroit Story by David Maraniss is really good. It covers Detroit in the mid-1960s, when things were generally 'good,' but the cracks were already starting to show. One of my favorites I have read.

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The absolute best for what you described is Origins of the Urban Crisis, which others have mentioned here.

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I also recommend The Next American Revolution: Sustainable Activism for the Twenty-First Century by Grace Lee Boggs. It talks about Detroit a lot, but isn't centered around Detroit, but it's very interesting. Her documentary is also on Netflix which I highly recommend, much more Detroit themed. She was a very influential person in Detroit and the United States in general, and I'm always shocked when I bring her up and people haven't even heard of her.

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Oh and Writing My Wrongs: Life, Death, and Redemption in an American Prison by Shaka Senghor is very good. It's a memoir but it also talks about what Detroit was like in the 1980s and kind of gives you a feel for the era of Detroit that we all know about, but there aren't many stories about.

Regarding some of the other suggestions so far: Reading Payne's book is fine, but keep in mind that her work is quite controversial. Moreover, much her work is self-published. There are many who feel her research lacks the academic rigor typically found in a field where research is peer-reviewed/published. Plus, there's also the profit motive, since she sets up workshops around the country and does quite well for herself. I'm not saying this is inherently wrong, but just to keep this in mind.

"The Invisible Thread" was an enjoyable read, although I found it to be a bit contrived. It's a feel good story, but I don't think you'll learn all that much from it.

Here are some additional suggestions going from more academic to less. Honestly though, to truly understand poverty from a big picture standpoint, it's best to draw from a wide range of topics and scholars.

The Origins of the Urban Crisis, by Thomas Sugrue. Pretty much required reading for those studying the roots of poverty in America. You'll learn about various factors like segregation, redlining, and other urban policies have formed the historical foundation for the cycle of intergenerational poverty that reverberates to this day. It's academic, but not nearly as bad as a lot of journals.

More Than Just Race, by William Julius Wilson. He actually has numerous books in this field that are great. As an African American and Harvard sociology professor, he has quite a bit of credibility in this field. That said, he does face some criticism, as his approach leans heavily toward structural factors and is said to be overly deterministic. Note, however, that just about every scholar has critics.

Chutes and Ladders: Navigating the Low-Wage Labor Market, by Katherine Newman. This is a bit more accessible and personal, as she uses ethnographic portraits to complement facts and figures, giving the narrative a more personal feel, and offering readers real people they can empathize with.

There Are No Children Here, by Alex Kotlowitz. This is a non-fiction book by an investigative journalist that is meant to be read by the masses, making it far more accessible. Great stuff.

The Other Wes Moore, by Wes Moore. An accessible autobiographical account of two boys name Wes Moore, both of whom grew up minutes away from each other, but ended up taking very different life paths.

By the way, where in the midwest are you? I just moved to Iowa City a week ago. The weather here is...weird. Everyone is warning me of the winters here.

I don't think the racial issues are the sole problem plaguing Detroit, only that they were the first major problem in a long line of issues that have plagued that city for fifty something years. Hence their being the "spark," but not the sole cause. Other cities, like LA for instance, have had greater capital investment, more stable and sustainable economic bases, etc., and that's why sprawl and suburbanization affected them differently. And you're right, there were other reasons for suburbanization than simply race, but race was one of the major factors.

Quite frankly, the main reason I felt the need to highlight race is that there is this eagerness to completely dismiss it among a lot of people, because a lot of people don't want to deal with it. The person who posted above and started this discussion turned out to be a little extreme and painfully blinkered, but I saw where this was leading and felt inclined to jump in. There's often a lack of mature discussion about the issue on here, just a lot of people jumping down each other's throats.

Edit: further comments on LA I forgot to add -- I think that greater stability is a major factor in why they've been able to weather riots and their consequences. There were much fewer reasons for people to invest in Detroit than places like LA. And obviously LA is sustainable in an environmental sense. There's also a pretty good book on all of this in Detroit, and it does a good job of highlighting all of the factors involved (not just race): http://www.amazon.com/The-Origins-Urban-Crisis-Inequality/dp/0691162557.

> hundred year old talking points

Official redlining didn't start until 1934. Other forms of discrimination and segregation existed during that same time period. For example, the realtors association of Grosse Pointe had an informal racial point system until the 1960s. This is hardly a hundred-year-old issue. Elderly people alive today spent a good portion of their lives living under these conditions. There are plenty of excellent, thoroughly-sourced books on the subject. Enjoy!

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p.s. Wealth may not last for three generations, but that doesn't necessarily mean that poverty (and its effect) also does not last for three generations. It's much easier to lose wealth than it is to gain it in the first place.

If you want a great book exploring why Detroit is the way it is, I recommend The Origins of the Urban Crisis by Sugrue. He does a great job of exploring the reasons the city emptied out.