At the crossroads
"Three hundred and fifty miles southwest of Detroit, the roads run straight to the horizon in between tall cornfields and past gothic farmhouses, but also through small towns with traditional courthouse squares, brick-walled factory buildings, and now-cold smokestacks that tell of a faded industrial splendor. This is the heartland, the center of the center, the middle of the industrial Middle West. Once the vibrant core of America, it is becoming the New Appalachia." "President Barack Obama's administration has shored up Chrysler Corporation and General Motors Corporation with $77 billion worth of federal loans, at least for the time being. But the 2009 bailout of Detroit failed to halt the "Rust Belt" deterioration afflicting Middle America." "At the Crossroads tells the story of Detroit's collapse and a failed national industrial policy from the point of view of those most affected by it - the factory workers, small business owners, and mayors of small manufacturing towns like Kokomo, Marion, and Bedford in Indiana, the number two auto manufacturing state after Michigan and the number one manufacturing state overall based on a percentage of population."--Jacket.
