Hard Stuff: The Autobiography Of Mayor Coleman Young

Hard Stuff: The Autobiography of Mayor Coleman Young

From Library JournalYoung provides a detailed and painfully frank account of his life, from his early years in Alabama to his tenure as mayor of Detroit. Rich in historical texture, these reflections cover the migration of African Americans to Northern cities during the Depression, unionization of Detroit's auto workers in the late 1930s, segregation of military units during World War II, violent racial conflict in the 1960s and 1970s, and political turmoil in Detroit during Young's five terms as mayor. A recurring theme is the racist underpinnings of a national urban policy that has neglected America's cities and their social and economic problems. More so than recent biographies by Philadelphia's Wilson Goode ( In Goode Faith , LJ 10/1/92), Chicago's Jane Byrne ( My Chicago , LJ 4/1/92), and Milwaukee's Henry W. Maier ( The Mayor Who Made Milwaukee Famous , LJ 1/93), Coleman's memoir analyzes the rise and fall of American cities in the late 20th century. An invaluable resource for specialists on urban history and politics, labor history, and minority politics, this is also recommended for informed lay readers. Previewed in Prepub Alert, LJ 10/15/93.- William Waugh Jr., Georgia State Univ., AtlantaCopyright 1994 Reed Business Information, Inc.The first African-American mayor of Detroit recounts his life, describing his epic journey from "Big Time Red" on the Prohibition streets of Detroit to his rise in politicsFrom Publishers WeeklyIn his inimitably vinegary colloquial style, Young, the five-term mayor of Detroit, reflects on his eventful life and forthrightly defends his controversial stewardship of America's blackest city. Writing with Wheeler (coauthor of I Had a Hammer ), he recalls his boyhood in Detroit's overcrowded, hustling black east side, his battle against racism in the Army, his rise in the union movement and his vigorous resistance against the House Un-American Activities Committee. He blames the postwar decline of Detroit on misguided federal industrial policy, superhighway construction, blockbusting and white racism. After a scarring 1967 race riot, Young, a state legislator, was elected mayor in 1972 on a platform calling for a "people's police department." Describing Detroit as a "condensed, microcosmic, accelerated version of Everycity, U.S.A.," he convincingly presents himself as a pragmatic radical whose primary concern is the high unemployment rate in his city, and he maintains that his prideful black rhetoric does not obscure his longtime call for racial unity. He argues that Detroit must reconnect with its suburbs, and if his claim that black-governed Detroit has achieved "a level of autonomy . . . no other city can match" sounds self-serving, this still remains a valuable book on urban issues.Copyright 1993 Reed Business Information, Inc.From BooklistFrom humble beginnings in the South during the Depression, Young found himself battling the segregated U.S. Army during World War II, and then took on the House Un-American Activities Committee during the 1950s. In one of the book's most stirring passages, Young recounts his testimony slamming the HUAC as un-American itself. The civil rights movement of the 1960s led to his election as Detroit's first black mayor, just in time to preside over the virtual collapse of the automotive industry and the subsequent tailspin of the by-then racially divided city. Young acknowledges that things could be better, but points to his revitalization of the police force (although he does address the police beating death of Malice Green in 1992, and attempts to combat the twisted Detroit tradition known as "devil's night"). He also laments the lack of federal aid for projects like a rapid-transit system, which would unite city and suburbs, and the lack of more visionary businessmen such as Red Wings and Tigers owner Mike Ilitch, who elected to stay downtown rather than flee to the suburbs. The book, like the man, is raw (lots of profani