City of Champions: A History of Triumph and Defeat in Detroit

**renf** · December-09-20, 03:43 PM

A most interesting and unusual book was published this summer. The title is shown above. The authors are Stefan Szymanski who is a sports economist teaching at the University of Michigan and Silke-Maria Weineck who is a professor of German Language and Comparative Literature.

They have a unique and fascinating way of describing the social history of the city. They focus upon sports in Detroit and link the success and failures of many teams and numerous athletes to a fascinating description of how city changed since 1701 when the French arrived and found the Native Americans were playing what came to be known as lacrosse. There is a great description of the championship 1887 Wolverines team along with descriptions the of the city’s attempts to host the Olympics in 1920 and 1928. The authors may, at heart, be soccer aficionados but every sport played in Detroit is well described and link to how the city changes. It is amazing to read a book that presents well organized information about such a diversity of Detroit figures including Charles Coughlin, Hank Greenberg, Gordie Howe, Kwame Kilpatrick, Bobby Layne, Joe Louis, Hazen Pingree, Walter Reuther, John Roesink and Mies van der Rhoe. The epilogue is exceptionally fascinating since it describe how Detroit and Windsor might be chosen for the 2032 Olympics using a dozen or so venues that now exist.

Every year there are a dozen or more books published about Detroit. This will be, I think, the most imaginative and interesting one published this year. [[Stefan Szymanski and Silke-Marie Weineck; City of Champions: A History of Triumph and Defeat in Detroit; New York: The New Press, 2020.

**401don** · December-09-20, 04:47 PM

Sounds like a good read though hopefully the city never wants any part of the Olympics. The IOC makes the mafia look legit. At least they have break dancing now, geez.

**rickbak** · December-09-20, 09:57 PM

The cover shows Ty Cobb as a right-handed batter. Yikes.

**Lowell** · December-09-20, 10:39 PM

Originally Posted by rickbak

The cover shows Ty Cobb as a right-handed batter. Yikes.

And Joe Louis in a southpaw stance. Somebody must have flipped the image.
Name: PNG image.jpg
Views: 270
Size: 95.4 KB

**rickbak** · December-09-20, 10:54 PM

?od uoy nac tahW. llew hO

**Ray1936** · December-10-20, 12:05 PM

Originally Posted by rickbak

?od uoy nac tahW. llew hO

Thanks for the good chuckle, rick. I sure wish Lowell would install a "like" button, a la Facebook.

**rickbak** · December-10-20, 01:39 PM

Originally Posted by Ray1936

Thanks for the good chuckle, rick. I sure wish Lowell would install a "like" button, a la Facebook.

Well, why not make a donation to my PayPal account instead as a sign of appreciation? Please don't embarrass either one of us by making the amount less than $2500. Thanks!

**EastsideAl** · December-10-20, 05:02 PM

Detroit also bid for every Summer Olympics from 1952 to 1972. Finishing second in the voting for the '64 and '68 games [[awarded to Tokyo and Mexico City).

**Jimaz** · December-10-20, 05:45 PM

Originally Posted by Lowell

Originally Posted by rickbak

The cover shows Ty Cobb as a right-handed batter. Yikes.

And Joe Louis in a southpaw stance. Somebody must have flipped the image....

How embarrassing.

I once had a book where the cover had been applied upside down. To read it, I had to hold it in — what would appear to others — an upside down position. To avoid anyone thinking I was only pretending to know how to read, I turned my back to the crowd until the end of the book.

To make matters worse, it was a book about labor history printed by a union.

Ay yai yai