Earlier this month, Detroiters rejoiced at the news that Ford Motor Co. had purchased and would renovate the Michigan Central Station, long a symbol of the decay and neglect of the city of Detroit. On Sunday, July 1, the legendary train station is a centerpiece in “Detroit: Comeback City,” a new documentary airing at 9 p.m. on the History Channel.
The documentary is narrated by Detroit native and Oscar-winning actor J.K. Simmons, and features interviews with other Detroit lovers Alice Cooper, astronaut Jerry Linenger and Smokey Robinson. It also features insight by University of Detroit Mercy History Professor Gregory Sumner.
Co-Chair of the History Department, Sumner teaches courses on 20th-Century American politics and culture. He is the author of “Dwight Macdonald and the Politics Circle: The Challenge of Cosmopolitan Democracy” (1996), “Unstuck in Time: A Journey Through Kurt Vonnegut’s Life and Novels” (2012) and “Detroit in World War II” (2015). A fellow of the Andrew Mellon Foundation, the John D. and Catherine T. MacArthur Foundation and the National Endowment for the Humanities, he also was selected as a Fulbright Scholar at the University of Rome (2001, 2010). He holds B.A., M.A. and Ph.D. degrees from Indiana University and a J.D. from the University of Michigan Law School. He joined the University in 1993.
We haven’t seen the final product so we don’t know how much of his hourlong interview made it into the documentary. Still, for those who love Detroit, it should be worth checking out. Watch the preview here;Â check your cable listings for channel number.
