Awards

• Winner of Michigan Notable Books 2002

Overview

Fascinating glimpses of detroit in the years before photography. Despite its inland location, Detroit's origins as a French outpost make it older than many other cities of the eastern United States. A vivid iconographic record survives for early Detroit, created by those who studied the city for military or commercial purposes. These pictures and maps are tantalizing windows into the past of this colonial metropolis of the Great Lakes during its French, British, and early American periods. Frontier Metropolis illustrates and describes all known images of Detroitin the pre-photographic era - from its founding in 1701 to 1838 - to provide a nearly complete visual chronology made by people who knew the city. Brtan Leigh Dunnigan has arranged these maps, plans, and views to show the evolution of Detroit and its community life over its first 137 years. Culled from a variety of archives and private collections, images were selected that recorded contemporary scenes, avoiding those that were made later to recapture an earlier period. Chapter introductions review issues faced by Detroit residents during the years covered, while text accompanying the images places them in their historical context and adds the descriptive words of people from the past. No other book so vividly depicts Detroit's growth from struggling agricultural community and trading post to industrial giant. Presented in a handsome, large-format design and illustrated in full color, Frontier Metropolis is a unique and captivating look at the city's rich and diverse heritage.

Full Product Details

9780814327678

Table of Contents

Reviews

It is hard to imagine anyone who loves books describing this beautiful volume as anything less than a treasure. In particular, those readers with an interest in maps or the Great Lakes region in the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries, let alone Detroit, will find it irresistible.--The Michigan Historical Review It's a really nice book on Detroit that people seem to overlook. It weighs 9 pounds and has 250 pages of reprinted old maps, portraits of founders of the city and stunning historical writing. It's an organic, wonderful picture book-bigger than most and nicer than most art books. The reproductions are really nice and crisp, and it has material that you're never going to see again. --Metrotimes This is the magnum opus of Detroit's anniversary year... The book is a work of art and a scholar's delight... a must for anyone interested in Detroit history.--Bill McGraw Detroit Free Press These pictures and maps are tantalizing windows into the past of this colonial metropolis during its French, British, and early American periods. Frontier Metropolis illustrates and describes all known images of Detroit from its founding in 1707 until 1838 to provide a nearly complete visual chronology made by people who knew the city. Presented in a handsome, large-format design, illustrated in full color, Frontier Metropolis is a unique and captivating look at the city's rich and colorful heritage.--Michigan Social Studies Journal Brian Dunnigan's Frontier Metropolis: Picturing Early Detroit is both a sophisticated study of the Detroit River region between the founding of the French settlement in 1701 and the beginning of the photographic era in 1838 and an outstanding example of just how effectively images can be used in the historical venture. Frontier Metropolis is the product of Brian Dunnigan's thorough search through North American and European collections to find maps and pictures that he then subjected to careful scrutiny within the context of his enviable knowledge of Great Lakes colonial history.--Ontario History Dunnigan's scholarsip is impeccable. He knows the source literature comprehensively, and describes both topography and biography vividly.... The portrait of the 'Motor City' in adolescence becomes fresh and authoratative in Dunnigan's lively telling...--Nicholas Westbrook Executive Director, Fort Ticonderog This is a city most of us know little about, and which we have never seen illustrated, at least not like this. Dunnigan, curator of maps at the William L. Clements library at the University of Michigan, spent five years on this project. What he has produced is anything but another history of early Detroit-though it is a superbly well-written one. The core of this book is a rich, unique and virtually complete visual record of Detroit before the age of photography.---The Oakland Press

It is hard to imagine anyone who loves books describing this beautiful volume as anything less than a treasure. In particular, those readers with an interest in maps or the Great Lakes region in the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries, let alone Detroit, will find it irresistible.--The Michigan Historical Review This is the magnum opus of Detroit's anniversary year... The book is a work of art and a scholar's delight... a must for anyone interested in Detroit history.--Bill McGraw Detroit Free Press These pictures and maps are tantalizing windows into the past of this colonial metropolis during its French, British, and early American periods. Frontier Metropolis illustrates and describes all known images of Detroit from its founding in 1707 until 1838 to provide a nearly complete visual chronology made by people who knew the city. Presented in a handsome, large-format design, illustrated in full color, Frontier Metropolis is a unique and captivating look at the city's rich and colorful heritage.--Michigan Social Studies Journal Brian Dunnigan's Frontier Metropolis: Picturing Early Detroit is both a sophisticated study of the Detroit River region between the founding of the French settlement in 1701 and the beginning of the photographic era in 1838 and an outstanding example of just how effectively images can be used in the historical venture. Frontier Metropolis is the product of Brian Dunnigan's thorough search through North American and European collections to find maps and pictures that he then subjected to careful scrutiny within the context of his enviable knowledge of Great Lakes colonial history.--Ontario History It's a really nice book on Detroit that people seem to overlook. It weighs 9 pounds and has 250 pages of reprinted old maps, portraits of founders of the city and stunning historical writing. It's an organic, wonderful picture book-bigger than most and nicer than most art books. The reproductions are really nice and crisp, and it has material that you're never going to see again. --Metrotimes Dunnigan's scholarsip is impeccable. He knows the source literature comprehensively, and describes both topography and biography vividly.... The portrait of the 'Motor City' in adolescence becomes fresh and authoratative in Dunnigan's lively telling...--Nicholas Westbrook Executive Director, Fort Ticonderog This is a city most of us know little about, and which we have never seen illustrated, at least not like this. Dunnigan, curator of maps at the William L. Clements library at the University of Michigan, spent five years on this project. What he has produced is anything but another history of early Detroit-though it is a superbly well-written one. The core of this book is a rich, unique and virtually complete visual record of Detroit before the age of photography.---The Oakland Press

It is hard to imagine anyone who loves books describing this beautiful volume as anything less than a treasure. In particular, those readers with an interest in maps or the Great Lakes region in the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries, let alone Detroit, will find it irresistible.--The Michigan Historical Review It's a really nice book on Detroit that people seem to overlook. It weighs 9 pounds and has 250 pages of reprinted old maps, portraits of founders of the city and stunning historical writing. It's an organic, wonderful picture book-bigger than most and nicer than most art books. The reproductions are really nice and crisp, and it has material that you're never going to see again. --Metrotimes This is the magnum opus of Detroit's anniversary year... The book is a work of art and a scholar's delight... a must for anyone interested in Detroit history.--Bill McGraw Detroit Free Press Dunnigan's scholarsip is impeccable. He knows the source literature comprehensively, and describes both topography and biography vividly.... The portrait of the 'Motor City' in adolescence becomes fresh and authoratative in Dunnigan's lively telling...--Nicholas Westbrook Executive Director, Fort Ticonderog These pictures and maps are tantalizing windows into the past of this colonial metropolis during its French, British, and early American periods. Frontier Metropolis illustrates and describes all known images of Detroit from its founding in 1707 until 1838 to provide a nearly complete visual chronology made by people who knew the city. Presented in a handsome, large-format design, illustrated in full color, Frontier Metropolis is a unique and captivating look at the city's rich and colorful heritage.--Michigan Social Studies Journal This is a city most of us know little about, and which we have never seen illustrated, at least not like this. Dunnigan, curator of maps at the William L. Clements library at the University of Michigan, spent five years on this project. What he has produced is anything but another history of early Detroit-though it is a superbly well-written one. The core of this book is a rich, unique and virtually complete visual record of Detroit before the age of photography.---The Oakland Press Brian Dunnigan's Frontier Metropolis: Picturing Early Detroit is both a sophisticated study of the Detroit River region between the founding of the French settlement in 1701 and the beginning of the photographic era in 1838 and an outstanding example of just how effectively images can be used in the historical venture. Frontier Metropolis is the product of Brian Dunnigan's thorough search through North American and European collections to find maps and pictures that he then subjected to careful scrutiny within the context of his enviable knowledge of Great Lakes colonial history.--Ontario History

Author Information

Brlan Leigh Dunnigan is curator of maps at the william L. Clements Library of the University of Michigan.

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