Detroit is just like everywhere else, only more so--a lot more so.

[S]tart at the turn of the last century, in 1901, with the celebration of Detroit’s bicentennial. That was the Detroit that came before--before all the racket that attended the making of the modern world, which happened here first and faster than anywhere else on this planet.

But what people don't realize is that Detroit is the greatest success story in American history.

Everyone says look at what 'those people' did to my city. And race is always an element. In 1950, Detroit had a population of 1.8 million; 80 percent were white, 20 percent black. Today the population is 900,000 and those percentages have more than reversed.