Reddit mentions of Once in a Great City: A Detroit Story

The article doesn't mention it, but I'm assuming it's based on the book Once in a Great City: A Detroit Story which was pretty good.

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.

Get acquainted with the story of your new home with a great book.

Once in a Great City: A Detroit Story
https://www.amazon.com/dp/147674839X/

I'm a life-long resident of Metro area and love going downtown. I'd move to midtown in a heartbeat if I had the money.

I've worked, in my younger days (recent past), going to liquor stores of all places, all over the city including some of the seedist areas that suburban white kids should probably not venture into, but never once did I encounter a problem. Probably helped that I'm a large intimidating guy who was constantly assumed to be an undercover undercover cop.

If you have any questions in the future feel free to PM me.