"Detroit: An American Autopsy" (The Penguin Press), by Charlie LeDuff

Detroit has long been the poster child for urban blight, a city that gives rise to images of crack houses, senseless killings, burnt-out buildings, civic corruption, high unemployment and flirtations with municipal bankruptcy.

Charlie LeDuff, who grew up in Detroit and made his mark as a Pulitzer Prize winner for The New York Times, later returned home to immerse himself in his city's despair. His book, based in part on his reporting for The Detroit News, captures the sights, sounds and smells of a crumbling, once-proud metropolis that he views as the template for other American cities in decline.