Who Killed Detroit?: Other Cities Beware! [Paperback]

Johannes Spreen (Author), Diane Holloway Ph.D. (Contributor)

Book Description

Publication Date: June 2, 2005

Who Killed Detroit explains how the automobile industry, migration of blacks, housing segregation, riot of 1967, rise of radical groups, and the resulting reactions since then have left this great city in shambles. No other American city has offered so much to so many in the first half of the twentieth century. And no other city has collapsed as completely as Detroit in the second half of the twentieth century. Who Killed Detroit explores what can be learned to prevent a similar fate in other cities. Former Detroit Police Commissioner Spreen reveals secret documents that explain the operations of groups that killed Detroit. Blame is laid at the feet of politicians, the press, pressure groups, the police and the people. Rumors that have floated about for 40 years are put to rest. Spreen and Holloway shed light on the forces and psychological factors that bring a city down. They examine problems that still exist and threaten the survival and progress of the city. They also list preventive actions that cities can take to avoid a similar fate.

Editorial Reviews

About the Author

Johannes Spreen, BS, MPA and Ph. D. (ABD) was in law enforcement from 1941-1985 rising to NYC command of operations, Detroit Police Commissioner 1968-1970 and then sheriff of Oakland County.

Diane Holloway, Ph.D., Dallas psychologist, coordinated the first Dallas police assessment center and was the first Dallas "Drug Czar."

Product Details

• Paperback: 268 pages
• Publisher: iUniverse, Inc. (June 2, 2005)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0595357989
• ISBN-13: 978-0595357987
• Product Dimensions: 8.8 x 5.8 x 1 inches
• Shipping Weight: 15.2 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 2.7 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (9 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #415,251 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

10 of 13 people found the following review helpful:

2.0 out of 5 stars NO WONDER DETROIT DECLINED., April 28, 2006

By 

W. Hemeter (New Orleans) - See all my reviews
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Amazon Verified Purchase

This review is from: Who Killed Detroit?: Other Cities Beware! (Paperback)

No wonder Detroit declined if this book and Made in Detroit by Clemens are the best one can come up with for an explanation of Detroit's demise. I went to Detroit Labor Day of 2004 and thought it looked liked it had been hit by a neutron bomb. I have yet to find a book that gives a truly thoughtful analysis of what happened to Detroit.

This book is unimaginably poorly written and disorganized. Is the author dyslexic?. Chock full of "more on this later" and "which I discussed earlier". But this book has some amazing facts on the Republic of New African and Aretha Franklin's pastor dad's collusion with black militants. So it is the better of the two books for insights.

Despite the bad writing I would have given it 3 stars for the amazing facts except it peters out badly near the end as the author, a former chief of the Detroit P.D., dwells on his definitions of good policing.

9 of 12 people found the following review helpful:

2.0 out of 5 stars limited, May 19, 2006

By 

Eric C. Ratkowski "Wunderspat" (Detroit, MI USA) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Who Killed Detroit?: Other Cities Beware! (Paperback)

This book is a poor substitute for Thomas Sugrue's "Origins of the Urban Crisis." More sensational and less objective, Holloway's weak prose add very little to the important discourse on the fall of Detroit. At best, this book should be considered a supplement (with its unique sources) to more rigorous and thoughtful writings.

6 of 8 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars The Truth Won't Set Detroit Free, November 27, 2009

By 

V (Michigan) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Who Killed Detroit?: Other Cities Beware! (Paperback)

Florida: oranges. Hawaii: pineapples. Idaho: potatoes. Detroit: embezzlers.

Neither WHO KILLED DETROIT? nor any other book I've read has honestly confronted the unpleasant truth that Detroit has declined mainly because it's festooned with crooks. The status quo has been the same for more than twenty-five years: from the mayor to the meter maid, anybody in civic government who can get his/her hands on public money steals it. Detroit's "civilian" population, in the meantime, takes off time from murder, car jacking, drug-dealing, arson, burglary, and rape only to elect and re-elect the very same political vampires who suck out the city's lifeblood. Business has fled Detroit because Detroit's no place to do business. As of November, 2009, one-third of Detroit's buildings, domestic and commercial, are empty. The city is riddled with vacant lots. Its downtown resembles Dresden after the Allied bombing. Law-abiding citizens, regardless of race, have fled to other locations because the city is: (1) no place to live; (2) no place to work; (3) no place to raise a family. Detroit's 911 response-time is a national scandal. Crimes against property aren't acknowledged in Detroit; the police don't even bother to investigate transgressions short of homicide.

"Detroit: a World-Class City" squawked the advertisements when Detroit hosted the Super Bowl a few years back. Sure: a THIRD-World city. The sides of most downtown buildings were covered to disguise their vacancy and dilapidation. The apologists for Murder City are accomplished denial-meistern, frantically attempting to bury the ugly truth under a cascade of PC "feel good" blather. "There are a lot of good things about Detroit!" Maybe so, but in the final analysis they don't offset the city's demerits. Anybody who has an opportunity to compare 21st Century Detroit with other major American or foreign cities will agree that Detroit SHOULD be ashamed of itself. But it isn't.

Detroit is a sinkhole. It'll take a hundred years to rehabilitate it.