Lot 4 Detroit Biography Books Made In Detroit, Once a Great City, Motor City Me

Blazing Media
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Condition
Very Good
A book that does not look new and has been read but is in excellent condition. No obvious damage to the cover, with the dust jacket (if applicable) included for hard covers. No missing or damaged pages, no creases or tears, and no underlining/highlighting of text or writing in the margins. May be very minimal identifying marks on the inside cover. Very minimal wear and tear. See the seller’s listing for full details and description of any imperfections. See all condition definitionsopens in a new window or tab
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“PAPERBACK IS VERY GOOD WITH CREASING & SCUFFING. HARDCOVERS ARE ALL VERY GOOD OR BETTER WITH MINOR ...
ISBN
9781476748382
Book Title
Once in a Great City : a Detroit Story
Publisher
Simon & Schuster
Item Length
9.2 in
Publication Year
2015
Format
Hardcover
Language
English
Illustrator
Yes
Item Height
1.4 in
Author
David Maraniss
Genre
History
Topic
United States / 20th Century, General, United States / State & Local / MidWest (IA, Il, in, Ks, Mi, MN, Mo, Nd, Ne, Oh, Sd, Wi)
Item Weight
27.3 Oz
Item Width
6.2 in
Number of Pages
464 Pages
Category

About this product

Product Identifiers

Publisher
Simon & Schuster
ISBN-10
1476748381
ISBN-13
9781476748382
eBay Product ID (ePID)
208601102

Product Key Features

Book Title
Once in a Great City : a Detroit Story
Number of Pages
464 Pages
Language
English
Publication Year
2015
Topic
United States / 20th Century, General, United States / State & Local / MidWest (IA, Il, in, Ks, Mi, MN, Mo, Nd, Ne, Oh, Sd, Wi)
Illustrator
Yes
Genre
History
Author
David Maraniss
Format
Hardcover

Dimensions

Item Height
1.4 in
Item Weight
27.3 Oz
Item Length
9.2 in
Item Width
6.2 in

Additional Product Features

Intended Audience
Trade
LCCN
2015-017134
Reviews
In celebration of what Detroit represented, this book is equally a study of what was lost and is written with an attractive wistfulness that pulls the reader in. The narrative's tone of reminiscence makes it entertainingly informative. . . A colorful, detailed history of the rise and ultimate decline of Detroit., Maraniss has written a book about the fall of Detroit, and done it, ingeniously, by writing about Detroit at its height, Humpty Dumpty's most poignant moment being just before he toppled over. . . . An encyclopedic account of Detroit in the early sixties, a kind of hymn to what really was a great city. . . . The display of municipal energies is so impressive that every page haunts us with the questions What went wrong? How could so much go so wrong so rapidly? How did a city of so many fruitful tensions and monuments and intermediary institutions turn into the ruins we see now, with scarcely a third of its 1950 population remaining and so many of the sites that Maraniss mentions ruined or destroyed?, David Maraniss turns back the clock to paint the picture of an American metropolis in its prime, however, one where the seeds of the city's future fall were already starting to take root. . . . Maraniss's recounting of the story of his birthplace has the distinct feeling of the first big drop of a roller coaster. A car chugging upward towards heady heights, but en route takes an inevitable plunge back into cold reality. . . . Maraniss is able to give these characters life by injecting them with foibles along with the force of personality that made them prominent figures in the building of the city. . . . The simple breadth of the book is impressive, with Maraniss merging and wrangling disparate storylines about culture, politics, race, and the Ford Mustang into a single patchwork image of the Motor City., "Elegiac and richly detailed . . . Maraniss . . . conjures those boom years of his former hometown with novelistic ardor. Using overlapping portraits of Detroiters (from politicians to musicians to auto execs), he creates a mosaiclike picture of the city that has the sort of intimacy and tactile emotion that Larry McMurtry brought to his depictions of the Old West, and the gritty sweep of David Simon's HBO series "The Wire." . . . People's experiences intersect or collide or resonate with one another, and Mr. Maraniss uses them as windows on the larger cultural and political changes convulsing the nation in the '60s . . . [Maraniss] succeeds with authoritative, adrenaline-laced flair. . . . Maraniss cuts among story lines about the auto industry, the civil rights movement and City Hall, and among subplots involving Ford's development of its top-secret new car (the singular Mustang), the police commissioner's efforts to get the goods on the mobster Tony Giacalone and Berry Gordy's construction of a hit factory with Motown. The result is a buoyant Frederick Lewis Allen-like social history that's animated by an infectious soundtrack and lots of tactile details, and injected with a keen understanding of larger historical forces at work - both in Detroit and America at large. . . . Maraniss's evocative book provides a wistful look back at an era when those cracks were only just beginning to show, and the city still seemed a place of "uncommon possibility" and was creating "wondrous and lasting things.", "Maraniss . . . aptly traces these two narratives -- cars and race -- in chronicling a pivotal period of his hometown's history. Spanning autumn 1962 to spring 1964, the book bustles with vivid characters, from Berry Gordy and C.L. Franklin (Aretha's father), to Walter Reuther and George Romney (Mitt's father). "It all looked so promising," Maraniss writes, paraphrasing Detroit Mayor Jerome Cavanagh's conversation with President Johnson after his 1964 visit, but even in those halcyon days, "some part of Detroit was dying," a casualty of white flight, the demise of labor unions, and a changing world. This is a beautifully written tribute to that lost, great city.", [A] glimmering portrait of Detroit . . . that will leave the reader thoroughly haunted. . . . Once in a Great City has it all: significant scenes, tremendously charismatic figures, even a starry soundtrack. . . . Reading about the city in its hey day is like falling backward in time and running into someone whose youthful blush you'd completely forgotten. Detroit is that someone. She is bright and laughing, flickering before you like a specter from the past. I doubt I'll forget her anytime soon., Maraniss . . . undoubtedly will attract notice and focus even more attention on Detroit. . . . a unique and absorbing take. . . . As often as authors have told the story of Gordy and the rise of Motown, Maraniss still captures the vitality and enterprise on West Grand Boulevard in a fresh way. . . . [Maraniss] is equally adept at capturing the white-run city's complex racial dynamics at a time when black leaders were becoming more militant and clashing with each other over the proper level of assertiveness. Maraniss . . . is a skillful storyteller, and his interpretation of events in Detroit a half century ago is well founded. . . . Maraniss will only add to his reputation with Once in a Great City . It's a good read if your interest is only to visit Detroit's remarkable recent past. It's even a better read if you are interested in the city's extraordinary devolution. In either case, it's a story that is haunting, thought-provoking and, in the end, sad., Captivating . . . Maraniss hears the joyous sound of a city suddenly, improbably filled with hope. . . . Maraniss asks himself what in the city has lasted, a question that often haunts former Detroiters. The songs, he decides. Not the reforms, not the dream of racial justice, not the promise of a Great Society, but the wonderfully exuberant songs that came pouring out of Berry Gordy's studio. That's the tragedy at the core of this gracious, generous book. All that remains of the hopeful moment Maraniss so effectively describes is a soundtrack. And that isn't nearly enough., Once in a Great City is incandescent. Through evocative writing and prodigious research, David Maraniss offers us an unforgettable portrait of 1963 Detroit, muscular and musical, during the early days of Motown and the Mustang. Bursting with larger than life figures from Henry Ford II, Walter Reuther, and Mayor Jerome Cavanagh, to Berry Gordy, Martin Luther King, and Reverend C.L. Franklin, Aretha's father, this book is at once the chronicle of a city during its last fine time and also a classic American story of promise and loss., Combining hindsight and insight with deep-dive research, Maraniss provides a clear-eyed flashback to a once-powerful manufacturing metropolis intoxicated by cheap gasoline, swaggering hubris and blue-sky confidence. . . . Maraniss examines modern history in the dogged manner of David Halberstam and Robert Caro. Between the lines, he leaves an unwritten thought for both today's optimists and pessimists. If things could go change so much in just 50 years, what might the next half-century bring?, "A sobering portrait of a city that felt itself to be at the peak of its power and influence in a "time of uncommon possibility and freedom when Detroit created wondrous and lasting things," even as the forces that would topple it had set about their work. The principal strength of Maraniss's book lies in his skill at marshaling copious research to serve his sophisticated account of a complex, vibrant city balanced on its tipping point. . . . Sadly, one can't avoid the conclusion that never again will it be the city David Maraniss portrays with empathy and candor in this impressive book.", Maraniss' well-written and researched book well remembers the city of Detroit in the early 1960s as a place where factories hummed, Motown rocked and the present gave little warning that Detroit would become a 'city of decay.', Maraniss . . . undoubtedly will attract notice and focus even more attention on Detroit. With all that's been written about the city in the past 20 years, it manages to be a unique and absorbing take. Even Detroiters who lived through the 1960s will find Maraniss' account enlightening. As often as authors have told the story of Gordy and the rise of Motown, Maraniss still captures the vitality and enterprise on West Grand Boulevard in a fresh way. . . . [Maraniss] is equally adept at capturing the white-run city's complex racial dynamics at a time when black leaders were becoming more militant and clashing with each other over the proper level of assertiveness. Maraniss . . . who lived on the west side before his family moved to Madison, Wisconsin, when he was 6, is a skillful storyteller, and his interpretation of events in Detroit a half century ago is well founded. . . . Maraniss will only add to his reputation with Once in a Great City . It's a good read if your interest is only to visit Detroit's remarkable recent past. It's even a better read if you are interested in the city's extraordinary devolution. In either case, it's a story that is haunting, thought-provoking and, in the end, sad., David Maraniss is a journalist's journalist. . . . the book explores the optimism that existed in those days and the signs of major problems to come. It's a fascinating political, racial, economic and cultural tapestry., The great virtue of Maraniss's bighearted book is that it casts a wide net, collecting and seeking to synthesize these seemingly disparate strands. . . . Even where material is familiar, the connections Maraniss makes among these figures feel fresh. He's even better on the lesser known. . . . Motown is clearly where Maraniss's heart is, and it is where his materials--music, race, civil rights--come together most naturally. . . . You finish Once in a Great City feeling mildly shattered, which is exactly as it should be., A compelling portrait of one of America's most iconic cities. . . . Maraniss highlights the class and race frictions that demarcated and defined the city and gives readers a glimpse of the colorful life of mobsters and moguls, entertainers and entrepreneurs. Among the famous Detroiters he highlights are Henry Ford II, Lee Iacocca, Berry Gordy Jr., George Romney, and the Reverend C. L. Franklin. Maraniss captures Detroit just as it is both thriving and dying, at the peak of its vibrancy and on the verge of its downfall., Fast-paced,sprawling, copiously detailed look at 18 months--from 1962 to 1964--in the city's past . . . Maraniss' brawny narrative evokes a city still 'vibrantly alive' and striving for a renaissance. An illuminating history of a golden era in a city desperately seeking to reclaim the glory., Fast-paced,sprawling, copiously detailed look at 18 months-from 1962 to 1964-in the city's past . . . Maraniss' brawny narrative evokes a city still 'vibrantly alive' and striving for a renaissance. An illuminating history of a golden era in a city desperately seeking to reclaim the glory., One of America's finest non-fiction writers, a son of Detroit, offers a lively and meticulously researched account of how the city, once the engine room of America, began sputtering.
Dewey Edition
23
Dewey Decimal
977.4/34
Synopsis
* Winner - Robert F. Kennedy Book Award (2016) * "Elegiac and richly detailed...[Maraniss] succeeds with authoritative, adrenaline-laced flair...evocative." --Michiko Kakutani for The New York Times As David Maraniss captures it with power and affection, Detroit summed up America's path to music and prosperity that was already past history. It's 1963 and Detroit is on top of the world. The city's leaders are among the most visionary in America: Grandson of the first Ford; Henry Ford II; influential labor leader Walter Reuther; Motown's founder Berry Gordy; the Reverend C.L. Franklin and his daughter, the amazing Aretha; Governor George Romney, Mormon and Civil Rights advocate; super car salesman Lee Iacocca; Mayor Jerome Cavanagh, a Kennedy acolyte; Police Commissioner George Edwards; Martin Luther King. It was the American auto makers' best year; the revolution in music and politics was underway. Reuther's UAW had helped lift the middle class. The time was full of promise. The auto industry was selling more cars than ever before and inventing the Mustang. Motown was capturing the world with its amazing artists. The progressive labor movement was rooted in Detroit with the UAW. Martin Luther King delivered his "I Have a Dream" speech there two months before he made it famous in the Washington march. Once in a Great City shows that the shadows of collapse were evident even then. Before the devastating riot. Before the decades of civic corruption and neglect, and white flight. Before people trotted out the grab bag of rust belt infirmities--from harsh weather to high labor costs--and competition from abroad to explain Detroit's collapse, one could see the signs of a city's ruin. Detroit at its peak was threatened by its own design. It was being abandoned by the new world. Yet so much of what Detroit gave America lasts., * Winner - Robert F. Kennedy Book Award (2016) * "Elegiac and richly detailed... Maraniss] succeeds with authoritative, adrenaline-laced flair...evocative." --Michiko Kakutani for The New York Times As David Maraniss captures it with power and affection, Detroit summed up America's path to music and prosperity that was already past history. It's 1963 and Detroit is on top of the world. The city's leaders are among the most visionary in America: Grandson of the first Ford; Henry Ford II; influential labor leader Walter Reuther; Motown's founder Berry Gordy; the Reverend C.L. Franklin and his daughter, the amazing Aretha; Governor George Romney, Mormon and Civil Rights advocate; super car salesman Lee Iacocca; Mayor Jerome Cavanagh, a Kennedy acolyte; Police Commissioner George Edwards; Martin Luther King. It was the American auto makers' best year; the revolution in music and politics was underway. Reuther's UAW had helped lift the middle class. The time was full of promise. The auto industry was selling more cars than ever before and inventing the Mustang. Motown was capturing the world with its amazing artists. The progressive labor movement was rooted in Detroit with the UAW. Martin Luther King delivered his "I Have a Dream" speech there two months before he made it famous in the Washington march. Once in a Great City shows that the shadows of collapse were evident even then. Before the devastating riot. Before the decades of civic corruption and neglect, and white flight. Before people trotted out the grab bag of rust belt infirmities--from harsh weather to high labor costs--and competition from abroad to explain Detroit's collapse, one could see the signs of a city's ruin. Detroit at its peak was threatened by its own design. It was being abandoned by the new world. Yet so much of what Detroit gave America lasts.
LC Classification Number
F574.D457M35 2015

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  • by tomlynnstores
    Oct 22, 2015

    Once in a Great City - A Detroit Story

    David Maraniss, the author, has written a well organized and compelling history. I am 68 and came of age in the same era (early 1960s) on the southeast side of the city of Detroit. I knew much of what the book discusses, but there was also lot I didn't know. David did his homework and has given me an enhanced trip down memory lane. I highly recommend this book to anyone. Especially those who grew up in Detroit in the 1950s and 60s and wondered how it got to where I is today. Thank you David! Tom Jozwik Saint Louis, Missouri

    Verified purchase: YesCondition: Pre-OwnedSold by: tja4OquJSba@Deleted

  • by joegalaska
    Feb 07, 2017

    Not Just a Motown Review

    One need not harbor just an interest in Detroit to find this a compelling read. Maraniss covers much ground here related to civil rights, music, changing industrial work patterns as well as practicle sociology. This book has a good page-turning quality that covers a vital slice of life in Detroit and America in the early 1960's that pre-figures riots and abrupt change in the mid to late 1960's and 1970's. For that matter, read this book for insights on challenges and problems left unaddressed and that lead directly to the election of Donald J. Trump in 2016. Nicely crafted with a journalists attention to detail and a biographer's ability to tell a story, Once in a Great City, A Detroit Story is a welcome change from the typical conventional wisdom circulating among pundits, academics ...

    Verified purchase: YesCondition: Pre-OwnedSold by: goodwillexpress

  • by bthepeac_5
    Aug 20, 2019

    Remember when

    It's gives in detail a personal insight to events that took place in the early 60's. A great trip down memory lane for those who grew up in that time frame.

    Verified purchase: YesCondition: NewSold by: bestbates

  • by beal-fran
    Feb 14, 2022

    Excellent coverage of a past era

    It gives an insight into the subject city that probably most people would not know about. It’s not just about the motor industry but covers a lot of the musical aspect of that era, with a fair amount of politics thrown in for good measure. An excellent read.

    Verified purchase: YesCondition: Pre-OwnedSold by: thrift.books

  • by outahere-2day
    Apr 11, 2017

    maraniss is great, good to hear good things about Detroit

    Verified purchase: YesCondition: Pre-Owned

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