I bet many readers of this blog have seen or heard of the remarkable piece of journalism by the Detroit Free Press on the financial mess that has engulfed the city those reporters cover.  Tom Sugrue posted a link to the piece on facebook and, of course, he has also written a tremendous book on the decline cities, The Origins of the Urban Crisis.  The research that went into the Freep piece struck many, including Tom, as an excellent example of historical methods being applied smartly and carefully to a contemporary problem.  It was also an example of quantitative or Read more