100 Things To Do In Detroit Before You Die Book Review

100 Things To Do In Detroit Before You Die Book Review

100 Things To Do In Detroit Before You Die

Grade: A
Teachers’ Comments: I’ve lived in Michigan for nearly three decades, and there still are quite a few things on the list I haven’t done.

Detroit gets a bad rap. From the city’s bankruptcy to the “ruin porn” images of some of its blighted neighborhoods, people outside the area get the idea that it is a sort of Mad Max Wasteland.

But as Amy Eckert points out in her book, 100 Things To Do In Detroit Before You Die, the city and its surrounding neighborhoods are rich in history, culture, and entertainment.

100 Things To Do In Detroit Before You Die is divided into categories for Food and Drink, Music and Entertainment, Sports and Recreation, Culture and History and Shopping and Fashion.

The Food and Drink category suggests, among other things, The Grand Trunk Pub, eating Middle Eastern food in Dearborn, having a square pizza at Buddy’s and having a Sanders Chocolate (I mention those because I have already checked them off my list. )

Under Entertainment: taking in a Broadway show at the historic and architecturally significant Fisher Theatre. visiting one of Detroit’s casinos, listening to jazz at Bakers’ Keyboard Lounge, the world’s oldest jazz lounge.

Sports to-dos include seeing the Red Wings, Tigers and Lions, and playing a round of golf “on holy ground” at Shepherd’s Hollow.

For Culture and History, Eckert has suggestions that include trips to The Henry Ford Museum and Greenfield Village (I have season passes to those), and visiting the Charles Wright Museum of African American History.

Shopping must-dos include visiting Shinola, Detroit’s new hand-made watch company, the world-renowned Pewabic Pottery, and the Detroit Artist’s market in midtown.

There is so much to do in this book.

For each entry, Eckert includes a little background history, as well as advice on what to do and see at that location. The information is not in-depth, but it really is not meant to be. 100 Things To Do In Detroit Before you Die is meant to get you out and about.

And that’s what I’m going to do. I have a lot of things to visit right here in my own backyard.

Appendum: The book’s publisher, Reedy Press, produces a large number of similar books for a great many cities, towns and areas.