Detroit: The Death — and Possible Life — of a Great City

Hubris, racial tension, myopic politicians and the woeful auto industry brought this iconic American city to its knees. The first installment of a yearlong look inside the once and future Detroit

Yves Marchand and Romain Meffre

View of downtown Detroit through a window of the Broderick Tower on Woodward Avenue, 2005.

If Detroit had been savaged by a hurricane and submerged by a ravenous flood, we'd know a lot more about it. If drought and carelessness had spread brush fires across the city, we'd see it on the evening news every night. Earthquake, tornadoes, you name it — if natural disaster had devastated the city that was once the living proof of American prosperity, the rest of the country might take notice.

But Detroit, once our fourth largest city, now 11th and slipping rapidly, has had no such luck....

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