by Mark Binelli
6. The term originated with Albert Speer, whose Die Ruinenwerttheorie (“Theory of Ruin Value”) proposed an architecture worthy of the thousand-year Reich—in other words, buildings that would eventually make cool-looking ruins.
Conclusion
1. Much of the symbolism of the Matthew Barney performance hinged on Egyptian notions of death and resurrection, perfectly suited (thematically speaking) for a city like Detroit. But later, I found myself dwelling on the Houdini Belle Isle Bridge stunt, so inspirational to the piece. It had been Houdini’s first-ever bridge jump, and in subsequent retellings of the day’s events, he’d embellished the story, claiming the Detroit River had frozen, forcing him to plunge through a hole cut into the ice, and that after unshackling himself from the handcuffs, he’d been swept downstream by the current and spent eight minutes floundering in the frigid river while he searched for the lost opening, snatching breaths from the ribbon of air between the surface of the water and the underside of the ice.
In Houdini, the 1953 biopic starring Tony Curtis as the escape artist, the stunned crowd eventually begins to disperse, assuming the Handcuff King is dead; meanwhile, hidden from the spectators, we see Houdini paddling frantically along the bottom of the ice, his face a sputtering periscope. Not necessarily the metaphor I’d have consciously chosen to represent the struggles of Detroit. But I couldn’t seem to shake it.
Curtis’s lips, in the movie, come so close to the jagged underbelly of the ice, it looks as if he’s preparing to kiss some hallowed ground where a miracle had once occurred.
INDEX
The index that appeared in the print version of this title does not match the pages in your eBook. Please use the search function on your eReading device to search for terms of interest. For your reference, the terms that appear in the print index are listed below.
Adamo, John, Jr.
Adler, William
African Americans
emergency manager and
lack of mobility
leadership and
manufacturing jobs and
middle-class
northern migration of
radicalism and
riots and
ruins and
schools and
techno
upward mobility and
vacant land and
voting and
white flight to suburbs and
white return to city and
Young as first black mayor and
Agyeman, Jaramogi Abebe (Albert Cleage Jr.)
Alberti, Leon Battista
Ali, Muhammad
All About Detroit (Farmer)
Allen, James
Allen, Matt
Allen Park (suburb)
Ambassador Bridge
“American Acropolis”
American Institute of Architects
American League Championship Series
American Motors
American Odyssey (Conot)
American Revolution, The (Boggs)
Ancient Evenings (Mailer)
Andrews, Asenath
Angel’s Night
Archer, Dennis
Arc of Justice (Boyle)
Assignment Detroit blog
Associated Press (AP)
Atkins, Juan
Auburn Hills (suburb)
“Autobahn” (Kraftwerk hit)
Autoextremist website
auto industry
assembly line
bailout of
electric and hybrid autos and
fuel efficiency and
union concessions and job losses
See also specific companies and plants
Automotive News Annual World Congress of 2009
auto parts suppliers
auto shows
AutoWorld
Baker, General
Baldwin, Tiffini
Ballew, Paul
Barney, Matthew
Barnhill, Bryan
Barren, James
Barrow, Joe Louis
Barrow, Pete
Battle of the Overpass
Beatty, Christine
Beaumont, Gustave de
beavers
beehives
Belle Isle
bridge
Belleville Three
Benero, Virg
Bennett, Harry
Bennett, James
Benz, Karl
Berry Brothers
Bey, Hakim
Big Money, The (Dos Passos)
Binell family
Binelli, Anita
Binelli, Clemente
Binelli, Italo
Binelli, Nonna Bianca
Binelli, Paul
Binelli, Rafaela
Bing, Dave
Bingay, Malcolm
Bizdom U
Björk
Black Bottom Collective
Black Bottom neighborhood
Blackburn, Thornton
Black Legion
Black Legion (film)
Black Man with a Gun (Blanchard)
Black Panthers
Blackwell, Arthur, II
Blanchard, Rev. Kenn
Bloody Run Ambush
Bloomberg, Michael
Bobb, Robert
Boblo amusement park
Bogart, Humphrey
Boggs, Grace Lee
Boggs, James
Boggs Center for Social Progress
Boileau, Lowell
Book Building
Bowles, Charles
Boyle, Kevin
Boyle, Robin
Bracciolini, Poggio
Brave New World (Huxley)
Brewster-Douglass Projects
Broderick Tower
Brother Nature Produce
Brown, Gary
Brown, H. Rap
Brown, John
Brown, Mary
Brush Park neighborhood
Bryan, Tim
Bullock, Rev. David
Bunker, Nick
Burnley, Kenneth
Burton, Clarence
Bush, George W.
Butcher & Packer
Byars, James Lee
BYD (Chinese car company)
Byrne, David
Cadillac, Antoine de la Mothe
Cadillac Motors
Canada, Geoffrey
Car & Driver
Caracalla, Baths of
carjackings
Carlisle, John
carry concealed weapons (CCW) permits
Carter, Jimmy
Cash, Mr.
casinos
Cass Technical High School
Catherine Ferguson Academy
Cavanagh, Jerry
Céline, Louis-Ferdinand
census
of 1789
of 1794
of 2010
Center for Automotive Research
Center for Creative Studies
Chafets, Zev
Chaison, Gary
Chambers Brothers
Charles H. Wright Museum of African American History
charter schools
Cheeks-Kilpatrick, Carolyn
Chesnutt, Vic
Chevrolet, Louis
Chevy Volt
Chicago
Child Protective Services
Children’s Village juvenile detention center
Chippewa tribe
Chrysler, Walter
Chrysler Motors
Airflow
bankruptcy of
Design Studio
Fiat merger of
Jefferson Plant
300C sedan
Chrysler Museum
Cities Without Suburbs
City Airport Renaissance Association (CARA)
City of Detroit, Michigan, 1701–1922, The (Burton)
Cleage, Rev. Albert, Jr.
Clinton, Bill
Clooney, George
Cobo, Albert
Cobo Hall
Cockrel, Ken, Jr.
Coleman, Aaron “Mikey”
Coleman, Jason
Coleman A. Young Municipal Airport
College for Creative Studies
Computer World (album)
Conot, Robert E.
Considerations on the Substance of the Sun (Woodward)
Conspiracy of Pontiac (Parkman)
Conyers, John
Conyers, Monica
“Cool Cities” initiative
Cooley, Phil
Cooper, Des
Corktown neighborhood
corporate giveaways
Cosby, Bill
Couzens, James
Covington, Mark
Coy, Dorota
Coy, Steve
crack cocaine
Crain’s Detroit Business
Cranbrook art and design school
creative class theory
Cremaster films
Criss-Crossed Conveyors (Sheeler photo series)
Cromwell, Robert
Cupcake Girls
Curtis, Tony
Cusic, Marsha
Cuyler, Lieutenant
Cyriac of Ancona
Daley, Richard J.
Darrow, Clarence
Dateline: NBC (TV show)
Davers, Sir Robert
David Stott Building
David Whitney Building
Davis, Sammy, Jr.
Dearborn (suburb)
Dearborn Truck Facility
Dearing, Jai-Lee
Death and Life of Great American Cities, The (Jacobs)
DeBaptist, George
DeLorenzo, Anthony
DeLorenzo, Pete
Democrats
De Peyster, Arent
Detroit
abandoned buildings and ruins in
arson in
artists in
austerity and
budgetary problems of
bus system of
census and
city services cuts in
city-state consent agreement and
Core vs. Heartland of
corruption and
crime and violence in
decline of, and failed states
DIY activism and attempt to revive
early history of
emergency financial managers and
European romanticization of
gun ownership and self-defense in
homicide rate in
hopes for comeback of
leaders blamed for failure of
lighting department cuts and
light rail plan for
music concerts in
popular culture and
population decline in
population growth in, pre-1950
rebuilt after Great Fire
rediscovery of
reforms of 1960s and
return to, and tone of absence and blight
“rightsizing” plan for
riot of 1967 as turning point for
siege of 1760 and
suburbs and
urban farming and
urban renewal and
utopian post-urbanism and
Young as first black mayor of
See also specific mayors; neighborhoods; and suburbs
“Detroit 2.0” initiative
Detroit 300
Detroit, I Do Mind Dying (Georgakas and Surkin)
Detroit Advertiser and Tribune
“Detroit Arcadia” (Solnit)
Detroit Black Community Food Security Network
Detroitblog
Detroitblogger John (John Carlisle)
Detroit City Council
Detroit: City of Race and Class Violence (Widick)
Detroit: City on the Move (film)
Detroit Disassembled (Moore)
Detroit Dog Rescue
Detroit Edison Conners Creek plant
Detroit Electronic Music Festival
Detroit Free Press
Detroit Institute of Arts
Detroit Lions
Detroit Metropolitan Airport
Detroit Museum of Contemporary Art
Detroit News
Detroit Planning Commission
Detroit Police Department
budget cuts and layoffs and
citizen patrols and
integration of
riot of 1967 and
STRESS program
Detroit Public Library
Detroit Public Schools (DPS)
state control of
See also charter schools; and specific schools and school buildings
Detroit Red Wings
Detroit Riot of July 1967, The (Lachman and Singer)
Detroit River
“Detroit’s Beautiful, Horrible Decline” (photo essay)
Detroit Symphony Orchestra
Detroit Tigers
Detroit Vacant Property Campaign
Detroit Works
Detroit Zymology Guild
Devil’s Night
Devil’s Night (Chafets)
Dickens, Jamaine
Dilhet, Rev. John
Dillard, Angela
Dingell, John
Dodge, John
Dodge Motors
Fury
Ram
Dodge Revolutionary Union Movement (DRUM)
Donohue, Tom
Dos Passos, John
Douglass, Frederick
Dowie, Mark
Drake, John
Drewery, Mr.
drugs
Du Bois, W.E.B.
Dunn, David
Durette, John
Duryea, Charles
Duryea, Frank
Dyer, Geoff
Dziczek, Kristin
Eastern Market neighborhood
Eastpointe (suburb)
east side, defined
Eastwood, Clint
Economic Development Corporation
Ector, Rick
Edison, Thomas
Edison Company
Edwards, George
8 Mile Road
Eisenhower, Dwight D.
Elegant Disciples
Elevator Technology
Elias, Vincent
Ellis, Charles, III
Eminem
Engler, John
Evangelist, “Benny” (Benjamino Evangelista)
Evangelista, Santina
Evans, Warren
Fabulous Ruins of Detroit (website)
Facts and Opinion (Pingree)
Farah, Andrew
Fard, Wallace
Farmer, Silas
Faulkner, William
Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI)
Feldman, Micah
Feldman, Rich
Fiat
film industry
Finney High School
Finster, Howard
Fire the Bastards! (Green)
Fisher Body Plant
Flint, Michigan
strike of 1936
Florida, Richard
Forbes
Ford, Clara
Ford, Edsel
Ford, Henry
Ford Auditorium
Ford Field
Fordism
Ford Motor Company
Explorer
F-150
Focus
Fusion hybrid
Highland Park plant
Model A
Rivera murals
River Rouge plant
strike of 1937
Fort Detroit
Foster, Monique
Franco, James
Franklin, Aretha
Franklin, Rev. C. L.
Frederick Douglass Academy
Frontier Metropolis (book)
Frost, Wayne
Fugitive Slave Law (1850)
Futurama (1939)
Futurama II (1964)
Gaddis, William
Gagniuk, Brian
GalaxE. Systems Inc.
GAR Building
Gaye, Marvin
/>
General Motors (GM)
bailout and
bankruptcy of
EV1
Hamtramck plant
Tech Center
gentrification
Georgakas, Dan
Georgia Street Community Garden
Gere, Richard
German immigrants
Gettelfinger, Ron
Gibbon, Edward
Gilbert, Dan
Gilles, Ralph
Gingrich, Newt
Ginsberg, Allen
Girardin, Jacques
Gladwell, Malcolm
Glover, Danny
Godbee, Ralph
Godfather, The (film)
Godfrey, Thomas
Goldman, Tony
Goodin, Michael
Gordy, Berry
Grafton, Anthony
Granholm, Jennifer
Great Depression
Greater Grace Temple
Great Fire (1805)
Great Migration
Green, Jack
Greene, Tamara “Strawberry”
Greening of Detroit
Green Toe Gardens
Green Venture Zones
Gribbs, Roman
Griffin, Toni
Griffoein, Jim
Grimble, Lisa
Grimble, Ray
Grosse Pointe (suburb)
Gruen, Victor
Grunow, Francis
Guardian
Guevara, Che
gun ownership
Guyton, Tyree
Halberstam, David
Hamilton, Henry “Hair Buyer”
Hammond building
Hamtramck enclave
Hantz, John
Hantz Farms
Hard Stuff (Young and Wheeler)
Harper’s
Harper Woods (suburb)
Harris, Robert
Hart, William
Harvard Crimson
Harvey, John
Hathaway, Michael
Head of State (film)
Heidelberg Project
“Hello, Detroit” (Gordy song)
Henderson, Fritz
Henderson, Stephenn
Henderson-Pearson, Ramona
Henry Ford Community College
Henry Ford Museum
Highland Park
emergency financial manager
Highland Park Fire Department
Highland Park Police Department
Hills Have Eyes, The (film)
hip-hop
Hocking, Scott
Hollowell, Eric
Holton, Thomas
Honda
Hooker, John Lee
Hoover, Ellen
Hoover, J. Edgar
Horseless Age, The
Houdini, Harry
Houdini (film)
House Un-American Activities Committee
housing-market collapse
Howell, Bernard
Howell, Brian
Howell, Kevin
Howell, Mary
Howell, Sarah
Hubbard, Orville
Huxley, Aldous
Hygienic Dress League
Iacocca, Lee
Ilitch family
