Skip to product information
1 of 2

ISBN 9780985944148

A Detroit Anthology

Regular price $20.00 USD
Regular price Sale price $20.00 USD
Sale Sold out
Style

Edited by Anna Clark

A Michigan Notable Book. 

People have long told stories about Detroit, but too often those stories are from outsiders looking in, telling the city what it’s all about. In A Detroit Anthology, Anna Clark, a Detroit-based journalist for ProPublica, collects the kinds of stories about the Motor City that people tell at the bar, waiting at the bus stop, sitting on their porch, or at church social hours. Featuring essays, photographs, art, and poetry by Tyehimba Jess, Grace Lee Boggs, Aaron Foley, John Carlisle, Desiree Cooper, Dream Hampton, Tracie McMillan, and many others. The Millions describes it as a book that “gives voice to people who now live or once lived in this fascinating, tortured place, the survivors, good people who know what pain is, people who understand that the city exerts an undying pull on them.” The Detroit stories here might not all be glowing or gloomy, but they’re 100% real. 

A wide-ranging and diverse portrait of a city, perfect for those who want to get to know Detroit for the first time or for those native Detroiters who want a more candid look at the city they call home. 

 

Anna Clark is the author of The Poisoned City: Flint's Water and the American Urban Tragedy. Her writing has appeared in The New York Times, The New Republic, The American Prospect, Grantland, NBCNews.com, the Columbia Journalism Review.

More praise for A Detroit Anthology

“While many books have been written on and about Detroit by writers who have visited, this anthology of prose, poetry, and essays is written by the metro area’s residents themselves … it’s the wide ethnic array of voices that truly shows the facets of Detroit life.” ―Ebony Magazine

"What these writers share, despite their differences of age, race, gender, and temperament, is the understanding that one has to know Detroit's history before even beginning to imagine how the city might move forward. Rather than trying to explain Detroit, editor Anna Clark says she set out to capture 'the candid conversations Detroiters have with other Detroiters.' She has succeeded spectacularly." The Daily Beast

"There is no cheap nostalgia or breathless boosterism. ... the book is a thrilling success. It gives voice to people who now live or once lived in this fascinating, tortured place, the survivors, good people who know what pain is, people who understand that the city exerts an undying pull on them." The Millions

"While the anthology doesn't seek to be complete, I find it thorough. There are essays about sports and food and music, poems about school and fear and language. We get the perspectives of Christian, Muslim, and Jewish Detroiters, Greek and black and biracial, hardworking and unemployed and activist Detroiters, LGBT and blind and young and old, those who have left, those who have stayed, those who have returned. We get anger and love, frustration and celebration. ... (a) wild and wonderful anthology." ―Waxwing Literary Review

MAY 12, 2014 | ISBN: 978-0985944148 | ESSAYS | PAPERBACK | 6 x 9 | 240 PAGES

 

  • Special Offers and Discounts

    Keep up with the newest title, sales, and events (plus the occasional meme) from Belt Publishing by signing up for our newsletter. It’s only once a week—no cluttering up your inbox.