Teardown. Gordon Young

After living in San Francisco for fifteen years, journalist Gordon Young found himself yearning for his Rust Belt hometown: Flint, Michigan, the birthplace of General Motors and the &ldquo;star&rdquo; of the Michael Moore documentary <I>Roger &amp; Me.</I> Hoping to rediscover and help a place that had once boasted one of the world&rsquo;s highest per capita income levels but had become one of the country&#39;s most impoverished and dangerous cities, he returned to Flint with the intention of buying a house. What he found was a place of stark contrasts and dramatic stories, where an exotic dancer could afford a lavish mansion, speculators scooped up cheap houses by the dozen on eBay, and arson was often the quickest route to neighborhood beautification.<BR /><BR /> Skillfully blending personal memoir, historical inquiry, and interviews with Flint residents, Young constructs a vibrant tale of a once-thriving city still fighting&mdash;despite overwhelming odds&mdash;to rise from the ashes. He befriends a ragtag collection of urban homesteaders and die-hard locals who refuse to give up as they try to transform Flint into a smaller, greener town that offers lessons for cities all over the world. Hard-hitting, insightful, and often painfully funny, <I>Teardown</I> reminds us that cities are ultimately defined by people, not politics or economics.