Author reads excerpts from “Detroit, An American Autopsy”
Once the richest city in America, Detroit is now the nation’s poorest, writes author Charles LeDuff. Recently filing for bankruptcy, the city has never stopped trying to recover it’s once known glory as the Motor Capital. A new book is exploring the city’s story of colossal greed, endurance, ignorance and remarkable courage.
Always looking for a humorous way to entertain, even a fake fall, Pulitzer Prize–winning journalist Charlie LeDuff, Author of “Detroit, An American Autopsy” was at NMU this evening to dissected his new book to a full house. He explores Detroit’s history as once the vanguard of America’s machine age, mass production, blue–collar jobs, and automobiles. Now, it is America’s capital for unemployment, illiteracy, dropouts, and foreclosures.
Author, Charlie LeDuff had this to say, “Shakespeare wrote sonnets for love and his plays for money, think about that. Why did I write the book, because it was in me, I felt I needed to. Because it hurt and it’s a book as much about my family as much as it is about Detroit, which you can’t separate one from the other. But it won’t disappear, I promise you, despite ourselves we will go on. Detroit was great, it became not great but we have to make it pretty decent for our kids, that’s real simple.”
LeDuff is able to shed the light on the true story of a hard town in a rough time filled with some of the strangest and strongest people our country has to offer. And manages to do it with a unique and laughable perspective.
“There is a fair amount of tongue and cheek, he says that at one point other cities have Detroit has a group of people that go around to other buildings and if there is a frozen basement full of water they will play hockey or they will do adventuring in hollowed out old factories and basically he ways we have these people, other cities have tourists. There is humor in the book, it’s sad but thre are some humorous things in the book,” said Nina Vandenende, LeDuff Fan.
A number events are being planned for the fall to further explore Detroit. The book is part of NMU’s “One Book, One Community Program.” These events are open and free to the public. For intormatin on the next book featured visit www.nmu.edu/onebook.