The Last Days of Detroit

A riveting and hugely unsettling guided tour through his dysfunctional, compulsively interesting home town... Binelli, journalist with Rolling Stone magazine, is not only a native son of Detroit, but also an acute and canny observer of its bracing dilapidation. And he is never less than informative when it comes to detailing its manifold quirks and strange historical nuances... Binelli constantly shows himself to be a hugely erudite yet eminently streetwise guide to the city in which he came of age. This is a clever, endlessly inventive, passionate tour through the most down-and-out yet plausibly possible of American cities -- Douglas Kennedy Times A story of extremes, mapped out by a restrained, clear-headed guide who loves the city as much as he is baffled by it -- Sean O'Hagan Observer This book could easily be an epitaph but Binelli finds green shoots of optimism sprouting up amid the debris -- Mick Brown Daily Telegraph A superb, diligent, forensic, study of the fall of a great city -- Jim Carroll Irish Times Binelli is a gifted storyteller... this is a story told with vitality, wit and affection... the reader cannot fail to be moved by his conclusion, rooted in Detroit's own motto. Speramus meliora. We hope for better things -- Melanie McGrath Sunday Telegraph Binelli is a Detroit native, and if he provides an authoritative portrait of urban cataclysm, he also faithfully charts the glorious rise of the Motor City... His account is often mesmerising in its shocking detail -- Peter Carty Independent on Sunday Deeply intelligent, sceptical, passionate and informative. An important work of contemporary cultural analysis, it is also wonderfully entertaining -- Kevin Powers Sunday Business Post Binelli's compelling book is a nightmare vision of a city which refuses to die -- David Sternhouse Scotland on Sunday