Punching Out: One Year in a Closing Auto Plant [Hardcover]

I'm fascinated by old buildings, especially factories. When looking at or inside them, I can't help imaging earlier days when our nation and workers were the kings of the world. Author Paul Clemens is a kindred spirit - his "Punching Out" reports on the sad closing of the Budd Company stamping plant, built in 1919 and one of the oldest active factories in Detroit. Somehow it made sense to end operations there supporting Ford (at one time it had 10,000 employees, 350 at the end), disassemble its massive stamping mills (up to four-stories high), ship them to Mexico, and there resume production for two Chrysler plants that it was situated between. The new reality - there's more money to be made tearing Detroit down than restoring its former glory; it's now become the world capital of closed and torn down auto plants.

Unfortunately, neither Detroit nor the Budd Stamping plant are unique - the twice-monthly "Plant Closing News" has reported on more than 5,000 industrial closures and re-locations since February, 2003. In its first year of publication, 983 plant closings were reported, and the number has risen every year since.

Why these closings and job losses haven't upended American politics is beyond me. Regardless, Clemens' book provides excellent reading and perspectives - even if the title is misleading. The book is actually about the year after the closing, not its last year of production. In any case, readers will be haunted by its unanswered question, "Why are we allowing this to happen?"

Having read Paul's previous tome, Made in Detroit, and enjoying it, I felt compelled to at least take a quick look at Mr. Clemens' most recent work, and I am awfully glad I did. Paul has matured as a writer. This book would probably be most interesting to a reader interested in American industrial history, probably centering on the US auto industry. Those, like me, who also have an abiding interest in Michigan history in the 20th century, would also find it very much worth the while. Those lamenting the fates of Rust Belt cities, like Detroit, Cleveland or Gary would also find it to be illuminating. A reader trying to ascertain just what did go wrong w "The Arsenal of Democracy" might read Paul's book hoping to find some rationale for our nation's manufacturing malaise and fall from grace.

Reading Paul's bio puts me at about 15 years his senior, although our professional, and life, trajectories are somewhat similar. I grew up near Gary, IN, another former boomtown that has fallen on hard times. Some of my neighbors worked at the Gary Budd plant. I worked two summers @ US Steel. Some of the characters in charge of the tear down of the Budd plant in Detroit sound a lot like some of the men I rubbed shoulders with in the masonry department @ US Steel. I was a green horn college kid who took the brunt of quite a few practical jokes. It was one of my first encounters with crude blue collar humor. I have to admit to this day, even as a US History and Civics teacher, I still like to mix it up with people like those Paul associated with, and find my vocabulary can be a bit "too spicy" for my West Michigan born & bred wife.

Paul never resorts to union bashing as an explanation for the downward spiral of the US auto industry. One does, however, wonder if some union practices, and I am a union "brother", may have had a hand in this southbound trajectory. Those believing that the "world is truly flat" will also find the fate of the big Danly and Clearing presses to be noteworthy. Their current locations are in Latin America: Brazil and Mexico. Those who do check the provenance of "American" vehicles will see that many of "our" domestic cars hail from Aguascalientes in Mexico. The body panels on those cars may have been made with presses extracted from the Budd plant in the Motor City.

As a native Detroiter, his insights into our largest city are quite keen. Paul can also humorously interject Catholic theology into his writing in a truly funny manner. I look forward to more books by Mr. Clemens. I wish him well. My biggest hope is that Detroit can, like Paul, once again be successful and truly inspiring.

A poignant look at the dismanteling of an auto plant and what it means to the country where it's being shipped. It's a sad reminder about the changing landscape of American jobs. A good read.