Detroit Images: Photographs of the Renaissance City

In 200 black-and-white photographs, Detroit Images captures another side of Detroit's celebrated renaissance. Reaching beyond the superficial, familiar views of the city's downtown skyscrapers, ethnic restaurants, parades and professional sporting events, the book presents an unsentimental look at a metropolis that once was called "the city of destiny." Detroit has become the nation's symbol of the industrial city in crisis, a synonym for failed public policy and a metaphor for the Rustbelt. Detroit Images depicts the symptoms of that crisis and reflects on its causes and consequences. Historian John Bukowczyk's essay outlines the historical development of industrial Detroit and probes the sources of its decline. The essay by photographer Douglas Aikenhead analyzes the themes and treatments employed by the book's fourteen contributors. In his afterword, poet and Detroit expatriate Philip Levine ponders photographs and personal history to provide a bittersweet commentary on the city. From Poletown to Downriver, Tiger Stadium to the Cass Corridor, Detroit Images mixes harshness, warmth and urban realism into a striking urban social portrait.