
The Detroit Model
Manufacturing American Men and Women in the Industrial City
Nicole Greer Golda(Author)
The University of North Carolina Press
Published on 21. April 2026
Book
Hardback
296 pages
978-1-4696-9523-5 (ISBN)
Description
As Detroit reached dizzying new heights of industrial success and urban growth at the turn of the twentieth century, hundreds of thousands of migrants flocked to the Motor City. In response, organizations such as the YMCA and Ford Motor Company launched wide-reaching Americanization programs to instill patriotism, conservative gender roles, traditional family values, and industry-favorable labor relations in the city's immigrant communities. As the "Ford Man" became a model for masculinity and the housewife for femininity, supporters of these programs believed Detroit could become a model for the nation. In this impressively researched book, Nicole Greer Golda reveals how the Detroit Model became embedded in American culture as the ideal of proper American citizenship.
Delving into Immigration Bureau files, migrant letters, and unexplored Ford Motor Company records, Greer Golda examines debates over family order, sexual relationships, race and labor relations, immigration policy, and the status of women. She illustrates how businessmen, government officials, white women, native-born workers, immigrants, and Black Detroiters challenged each other for the power to define the contours of the new American city. Ultimately, the Americanization programs prevailed, and their conservative values enabled the Cold War consensus to gain popularity. As The Detroit Model contends, the backlash to shifting demographics in Detroit shaped American life for decades to come.
Delving into Immigration Bureau files, migrant letters, and unexplored Ford Motor Company records, Greer Golda examines debates over family order, sexual relationships, race and labor relations, immigration policy, and the status of women. She illustrates how businessmen, government officials, white women, native-born workers, immigrants, and Black Detroiters challenged each other for the power to define the contours of the new American city. Ultimately, the Americanization programs prevailed, and their conservative values enabled the Cold War consensus to gain popularity. As The Detroit Model contends, the backlash to shifting demographics in Detroit shaped American life for decades to come.
Reviews / Votes
"This deftly argued book offers a compelling narrative of European, Mexican, Japanese, and Black migrant experiences, illuminating the long history of culture wars rooted in the persecution and harassment of immigrants in the United States."-Ashley Johnson Bavery, author of Bootlegged Aliens: Immigration Politics on America's Northern Border"A refreshing and nuanced study that weaves together histories of immigration, class struggle, and gender to uncover Detroit's enduring influence on American culture and politics."-Holly M. Karibo, author of Rehab on the Range: Addiction and Incarceration in the American West
More details
Language
English
Place of publication
Chapel Hill
United States
Target group
College/higher education
Product notice
Trade binding
Illustrations
19 illustrations - 19 halftones, 1 table, notes, bibl., index - 1 Tables, unspecified - Index - Bibliography - 19 Halftones, unspecified
Dimensions
Height: 240 mm
Width: 161 mm
Thickness: 22 mm
Weight
665 gr
ISBN-13
978-1-4696-9523-5 (9781469695235)
Copyright in bibliographic data and cover images is held by Nielsen Book Services Limited or by the publishers or by their respective licensors: all rights reserved.
Schweitzer Classification
Other editions
Additional editions

E-Book
03/2026
The University of North Carolina Press
€23.49
Available for download
Person
Nicole Greer Golda is lecturer of history at Kennesaw State University.