Detroit: An American Autopsy by Charlie LeDuff

Hunter S. Thompson has long been famous  for his,“Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas,” and its pull-no-punches morbidly hilarious journalistic style.  Now Charlie LeDuff takes up some portion of Thompson’s mantle with "Detroit: An American Autopsy," which would make for a darkly hilarious novel of its own if not  every word of the book were true.  LeDuff grew up in Detroit, moved away, and then returned in recent years to take a job as a reporter for the Detroit newspaper.  His journalism takes him to the heart of the problems with Detroit, from the abject poverty, to the rampant civil corruption, to the random, constant building arsons.  For anyone trying to figure out how things could have possibly gotten so bad in Detroit, located in a supposedly “first world” country, LeDuff provides invaluable insight into one of the nation’s largest boom-and-bust towns.  Highly recommended.