Hard Stuff: The Autobiography of Mayor Coleman Young.

• Author: Ensign, Tod

Some autobiographies strive to deepen the reader's understanding of both their subjects and their times. Those written by Lincoln Steffens, Henry Adams, and Malcolm X are models of that genre. Others, unfortunately, are content to dish out the author's version of events, often offering bad history in the bargain. it's a shame that Coleman Young chose the latter approach.

For fifty years, he was deeply involved in America's most important struggles: the battles for unions and racial equality and the fight against political repression and McCarthyism. During the last twenty years, he led Detroit's efforts to combat the effects of losing most of its economic base. If only Beale Street had talked; what a story he might have told!

Young is a strange case. Born poor in Alabama, he emigrated with his family to Detroit as a small child. Raised in the bosom of the Black Bottom, one of Detroit's legendary ghettos, he recalls a poor but proud community. Serving in the Army during World War II, he led other black servicemen in protesting military racism and segregation. Returning home, he worked with the left wing of the United Auto Workers, which was purged when Walter Reuther consolidated his power.

Next, Young became an organizer for two pioneering civil-rights groups, the National Negro Congress and later the National Negro Labor Council, both of which were close to the Communist Party. Even now, Young refuses to acknowledge whether he was ever a member. Because of his affiliations, Young was subpoenaed by the House Un-American Activities Committee's traveling witchhunt. In one of his finest moments, Young stood tall and attacked the legitimacy of the committee, branding its chairman a racist.

Unlike most blacks who were elected to mayoral positions in the 1970s, Young eschewed the embrace of white society and middle-class respectability. Although his critics accused him of being too chummy with the big developers and financial institutions, Young always postured as the big, bad "MFIC" (Motherfucker in Charge). Postured is the operative word here, for behind the scenes, he cut sweetheart deals with his developer pals, showering them with millions in Federal urban-aid dollars that could have been used to alleviate some of the city's glaring problems.

A comprehensive discussion of how an embattled city like Detroit can best preserve existing jobs and create new ones should have been at the heart of this book. Urbanologist William Whyte has written...