The Book Prize Index

Once in a Great City: A Detroit Story

David Maraniss

Explores everything that made Detroit great--from the auto industry visionaries to influential labor leaders to the hit-makers of Motown--while demonstrating how there were hints of the citys tragic collapse decades before the riot, years of civic corruption, and neglect took their toll.

HistoryAmerican History · medium confidenceAmerican History81 signalsLlm Classifier: American History -> American HistoryGoogle Books: History -> HistoryKeyword Classifier: Business & Economics -> Business & EconomicsHousing, Cities & Urban LifeClass, Poverty & Inequality

Award History

1 wins · 2 total

AwardYearResultCategory / Notes
Robert F. Kennedy Book Award2016WinnerOfficial source
Los Angeles Times Book Prize for History2015FinalistSecondary source
View all award history (2)
Experimental book profileGenerated by GPT-5.4 nano · may contain inaccuracies

This is an unverified interpretation of the catalog description, offered as an opt-in discovery experiment—not as bibliographic fact.

  1. 01 Central figures

    None extracted with sufficient confidence.

  2. 02 Central places

    • Detroit90%

  3. 03 Suggested argument

    The city’s tragic collapse began long before the riot, with civic corruption and neglect taking their toll over decades.

    Model confidence 62%

  4. 04 Reading orientation

    35 / 100 academic

    Serious trade

    An estimate of intended readership and scholarly apparatus—not quality or importance.

Confidence percentages are the model's own estimates. Profile confidence: 72%.