Dan Georgakas is not just a Greek-American. My Detroit is not an ordinary book with the memories of a second-generation immigrant. Dan Georgakas is a "diaspora rebel" and his book offers his perspective on the city (and the country) where he was born and raised, as well as on its people: natives and immigrants, whites and blacks, the people next door, the working class.

By reading My Detroit, we too live within a symbolic city of the USA, which transitioned from the center of the automotive industry for many decades in the 20th century to the bankrupt ghost town of 2013. The pages of this extraordinary testimony convey memories of childhood, insights from trips to Greece, family, Greek immigrants, their customs and traditions, and their struggle for social recognition.

Other ethnicities and cultures of this vibrant city also pass through, the blacks and their struggles (as well as their music: who doesn't know the legendary Motown!), the university lecture halls, the political and ideological ferment within them, and finally, like a mournful parade, the "ruins of Detroit" pass by, reminding us of the "Greek ruins" of recent years.