Case Study

From the very first pages of Sugrue, it is evident his choice of making the work a case study was not only wise but proved to provide a clearer argument and landscape than a generalized national study would have. He notes that he is one of very few scholars tackling the changing urban landscape in the post-war world, but invites others to build on his arguments for other cities like Detroit - Toledo, Pittsburgh, Philadelphia, and Buffalo. Detroit not only serves as the model city for the development of the rust belt, it provides a rare racial map that is mostly black/white and therefore is also useful for the study of black/white race relations and inequalities. However, one of the greatest strengths of Sugrue's work is there is no question of what any category of actor's influence and position was in Sugrue's narrative. The reader obviously becomes most familiar with the plight of black men in Detroit, but other people do not go unmentioned and all play an central role in the narrative. White women entered the workforce during the war but black women with families to support were less successful. Rich white men ran the auto companies, whose flight from suburbia caused the unemployment of white middle class men. Working class white men suffered as well from automation and the federal funds that had previously aided Detroit that then moved to the Sunbelt. Black men faced hiring and housing discrimination while the Detroit Urban League won victories for black women in the workplace. Not a single actor is left out of the narrative. The federal and local governments interact as well as a representative from almost all of the populations inhabiting Detroit at the time.