We are, first of all, deeply indebted to all who have written about Detroit: the journalists, the historians, the novelists, and the poets. We have learned from everything we read, and we could not have begun thinking about this book without their work. And to the people who run the archives and keep memory alive: at the Detroit Public Library, the Ford Motor Company’s archive, the Benson Henry Ford Research Center, the Detroit Historical Center, the Bentley Historical Library.
We owe friends and colleagues at the University of Michigan, who have been so supportive of this project, many of whom have spent hours upon hours listening to us, reading drafts, asking questions, giving feedback or just simple encouragement: Ketra Armstrong, John U. Bacon, Kerstin Barndt, Charlie Bright, James Cogswell, Walter Cohen, Rod Fort, Andreas Gailus, Daniel Herwitz, Fiona Lee, Marjorie Levinson, Allison McElroy, Karla Mallette, Johannes von Moltke, Benjamin Paloff, Yopie Prins, Helmut Puff, Patricia Reuter-Lorenz, Mark Rosentraub, Robert Sellers, Feodies Shipp III, Heather Thompson, Antoine Traisnel, Ron Wade, Liz Wingrove, and the College of LSA and the School of Kinesiology.
Our children, some of whom care about sports a lot, others who kindly tolerate their parents: Leon Sunstein, Stella Sunstein, Edward Szymanski, Kitty Szymanski, with a special shout-out to Will Szymanski.
Friends and scholars in Detroit and elsewhere who have helped in ways big and small, not least by not laughing out loud when Silke said she’d write about sports: Ian Balfour, Yago Colas, Keenan Covington, Ben Dettmar, Ismaila Verron Conteh, John Drabinski, Gidon Jakar, Stuart Kirschenbaum, Jason Krol, Todd Kropp, Dan Lijana, Lindy Lindell, Sean Mann, Daniel McLean, Imke Meyer, Jon Morosi, J.C. Reindl, Heidi Schlipphacke, Bill Shea, Tom Stanton, Khali Sweeney, Gwendolyn Wells, the Detroit City Football Club along with the indefatigable Northern Guard, and Stefan’s students in his classes on “Sports of Detroit” and “The Detroit Olympics.”
Thank you to our wonderful editors, Carl Bromley and zakia hendersonbrown, our equally wonderful agent, Gordon Wise, our meticulous copy-editor, Brian Baughan, our excellent production editor, Emily Albarillo, Todd Maslyk, who compiled the bibliography, and the entire team at The New Press.
Last, and also first, the City of Detroit and its people, the inspiration behind this book. In particular Mayor Hazen Pingree.