Historical insight

So I picked up a book I have been hauling around the country for the past 4 years. I acquired the book at Boysville when we were cleaning out closets. The title is DETROIT IS MY OWN HOMETOWN written by Malcolm Bingay. This is the 1st edition published in 1946. Misspellings and grammar issues galore. Malcolm was a writer for the Detroit News from 1921 as a reporter at 17 until 1928 when he was fired as managing editor. After a year of doing other work, Malcolm found a position at the Detroit Free Press in 1930. Malcolm's book tells the industrial history of Detroit. The time when Detroit could and would do anything better than anyplace in the world. As I read the history thus far (I am at the point in history when Walter Chrysler has taken control of Dodge) I am feeling both awe and frustration for a city that now sits solidly at the bottom of US cities in every category except crime. To read how John Dodge told the secretary of defense to sit down and shut up, just let Detroit do what it does best is inspiring to say the least. In those days Detroit just needed a blueprint of something and their engineers and craftsman could reproduce a identical copy. Now the city can barely create a viable economy. It is caught up in political infighting, playing the race card and sharing the wealth amongst a select few in politics and business cronies at the expense of the citizens who so badly need to believe in someone.