Pheasants can be seen gliding between the high windows of once-grand skyscrapers downtown. Whole neighborhoods are engulfed in weeds and errant trees that now give cover to deer, wild chickens and wolves. Entire blocks of homes have crumbled in upon themselves.

Neglected streets have given way to craters and makeshift memorials to victims of murder. “America’s way of life was built here.” It was also the last arsenal of Democracy on the planet fast enough, strong enough, rich enough and determined enough to stand up to fascism and stop its march across the globe.ĭetroit: An American Autopsy captures the city today, sitting on the edge of modern civilization, slipping inexorably back into total chaos. Yet it was quintessentially American because of its unstinting work ethic and tireless inventiveness.ĭetroit gave birth to mass production, the automobile, the cement road, the refrigerator, frozen peas, high paying blue-collar jobs, home ownership and credit on a mass scale, LeDuff reminds us. The city was once heralded as “Paris of the Midwest” for its cosmopolitan luxuries, broad boulevards and sweeping views of the Detroit River. So begins LeDuff’s haunting, angry and deeply personal account of what is left of his hometown.

WASHINGTON - “Go ahead and laugh at Detroit,” Charlie LeDuff sneers defiantly as the once-great metropolis teeters on the brink of collapse.

Detroit an american autopsy