What Doomed Detroit

Many cities have struggled with the decline of key industries, from Philadelphia’s shipyards to New York’s textile industry, but Detroit—which is now in bankruptcy—is both a victim of the decline of the Michigan automobile industry and a cause of it. A city with a history of civil disorder—it is the only American city occupied on three separate occasions by federal troops—its poisonous blend of race-based politics and union domination has left it impoverished and diminished. Once the fourth...