Detroit: From Boom to Bust and Back Again by In60Learning

Review by Shwetha H S

Genre: History, Nonfiction
Imprint: In60Learning
ISBN: 9781977060990

In60Learning is a new publishing brand that produces concise historical and biographical that can be read or listened to in sixty minutes. Their concept is based on the intention to make large works of literature be readable to all people who don’t have much reading time. You can find their learning list here. One of their published works is Detroit: From Boom to Bust and back Again.

In the book, there is a description of Detroit’s history as a city. A nondescript place gets chosen to be a hub for automotive industry. It shoots to fame for being the place to be for anyone looking for a job. But the ill-managed finances and doom of automotive industry scores bad with the desirability of the city’s state of living. Followed by drug mafia and racism, the city finds itself moving towards irrecoverable breakdown. But the city recuperates, not as expected, but in a different manner and intention. A micro history of the city Detroit is worth reading.

Detroit, the book, tells the reader a lot about why the city is the way it is, enough to be read in sixty minutes. It would have been better if more of racism could have been explained. Even the expansion of KKK is not given. But overall, Detroit deserves your sixty minutes.

Assault in Forgotten Alley by David Y.B. Kaufmann

Review by Sandeep

Assault in Forgotten Alley – Happens to be an investigation into the assault on a young boy in a Jewish Alley. Main people involved in the investigation include James McCallum, the detective and his friend, Rabbi Drew Aldala. Alongside the investigation of the assault, the author provides a lot of insight into the personal lives of James McCallum and Drew Aldala. The author introduces many characters each of whom could have a motive to carry out the assault on the young boy, which in turn deepens the mystery and the motive behind the attack, thus keeping the reader guessing till the end.

Throughout the book I was guessing whether it could be a racially motivated attack or whether its got something to do with jealousy or if its a drug deal which has gone wrong or something else. The cause of assault turns out to be a brilliant surprise, very well thought of and researched by the author.

I enjoyed reading this book, but its not one of those books which hurried upon me to finish. I took time to complete this book, since some of the Jewish traditions mentioned in the book were totally new to me. As a result, I had to refer a dictionary. Also the plot gets diluted as some of the details mentioned do not play a crucial role in the investigation.

Rating 3.5 /5.