About this item
Detroit was established as a French settlement three-quarters of a century before the founding of this nation. A remote outpost built to protect trapping interests, it grew as agriculture expanded on the new frontier. Its industry took a great leap forward with the completion of the Erie Canal, which opened up the Great Lakes to the East Coast. Surrounded by untapped natural resources, Detroit turned iron from the Mesabi Range into stoves and railcars, and eventually cars by the millions. This vibrant commercial hub attracted businessmen and labor organizers, European immigrants and African Americans from the rural South. At its mid-20th-century heyday, one in six American jobs were connected to the auto industry, its epicenter in Detroit. And then the bottom fell out.
About the Author
A veteran journalist and member of the Los Angeles Times editorial board, Martelle also writes books primarily about overlooked people and events from history. His newest is . Previous works include (2012) , about the rise and tremendous fall of a once-great American city; (2011) , about the first of the Cold War-era Smith Act anti-communist trials, and (2007) , about a coal strike that left more than 75 people dead in showdowns between miners and the Colorado state militia that didn't end until the U.S. Army was sent in as peacekeepers. .Martelle's journalism and book reviews have appeared in the Los Angeles Times, Washington Post, Sierra Magazine, Los Angeles magazine, Orange Coast magazine and other outlets. He has taught journalism and writing at Chapman University and the University of California-Irvine, and is a regular panelist or moderator at literary, journalism and labor history conferences, guest lecturer at colleges, and has been featured on C-SPAN's Book TV. Martelle also is a co-founder of , a group of freelance journalists.
