Detroit Book - City of a Million Dots

[Pete Maguire]

I would really love opinions from real Detroiters on the below - the stronger the better!

I am the author of a book City of a Million Dots.The geography of the book is based on Detroit. It all started after I saw the film Requiem for Detroit by Julien Temple
- what do you guys think of this film? Relevant, exploitative??

What struck me was the perceived death of an old empire and the rise of a new - the epic train station - the hub of a city lying in ruins - I took all of this to the extreme in my book - I don't mention Detroit in name but refer to it as The City - I used Detroit street maps to some extend, but took licence - I used a lot of building and street photos in order to evoke something of a beast that lies beneath the city. The genre of the book is Social Surrealism. The psycho-geography of Detroit is essential to the book as is street art.

I would love to give books to people from Detroit - Book Clubs etc. I am Irish but based in the UK so it is a little difficult but the temptation to send the book home might override all costs - of course there is Kindle which I can gift to anyone that is interested.

Amazon link is here. Reviews are good so far...

https://www.amazon.co.uk/City-Millio...a+million+dots

"If poor people are the blood of the city, then the Diner is the liver, and in the cold metallic corridor of Crow Street, the humming Diner sign said, come in and I will spit you out a better person.
Victor pushed the door and entered."

[Lowell]

As one of the interview subjects of that documentary a couple of things should be noted. The first is that it took an exaggerated dystopian viewpoint. Any city when viewed through a carefully aimed straw can look awful or great. Additionally audio in some scenes, such as a gunshot, were dubbed atop a different scene. It was a well made documentary, but not ethically accurate.

The second was that it was shot in the summer of 2009 when Detroit was at a very low point driven even lower by the 2008 Great Recession, which started here two years before that, and a corrupt mayor. Even then there were many positives but none were shown. Their script was written before they arrived. I can understand a POV documentary and that "ten thousand airplanes landing safely isn't news" but this was too extreme. The good news is that changes since then, particularly in the downtown are immense and positive but many were ongoing then. There are still immense challenges but the direction is very upbeat.

Good luck with your book.

[Pete Maguire]

Great input! Yes, I thought that might be the case... The documentary was, and I guess an awful lot are, leaning towards being more artistic than factual. I'm glad to hear there is an up side!