I really don’t know why I picked up a book that I knew was going to be depressing. But I did. And in some odd way, enjoyed it.

Punching Out: One Year in a Closing Auto Plant by Paul Clemens details the sad process of shutting down a plant in Detroit. The author is from the city, and he clearly has strong emotional attachments to the auto industry. But he has written a book that is balanced, fair, and insightful.

Even so, it can’t help but be a depressing book. Hearing about the thousands of plants that are being closed, and how much of their machinery is being purchased and then shipped out of the country (the plant he tracks mostly goes to Mexico), is sad. But it’s a story that must be told if for no other reason than we can continue the national conversation about what our economic future looks like.

Personally, I have a half baked idea that manufacturing is going the way of agriculture. The industrial revolution meant that small farmers found it harder and harder to make a living. Large agriculture companies were taking over as more and more people moved to the cities for jobs at manufacturing plants. We might pine for the days of Grandma and Grandpa living on the back forty with a few cows and chickens, but our country prospered during this transition. It was painful, though.

Perhaps we’re going through much the same thing now. Manufacturing needs fewer and fewer employees as technologies become more efficient. We might eventually look back on the 20th Century as the manufacturing age for America just as we look back on the 19th Century as the agricultural age.

But back to the book. Clemens tells a fascinating story of one plant being closed and creates characters of all the people involved in that closing. Some of the language is coarse as he quotes blue collar types in an exclusively male culture, but I kind of liked that (remember, I grew up in a junkyard). His insights into the meaning of the plant closure is often profound … though at times he still seems to be sorting through things. The book doesn’t have an agenda, thankfully, and I appreciate his musings because they don’t dictate a hard line perspective.

The writing style of this book is a bit weak, or at least I thought so. There were times when it felt like Clemens needed a better editor. But maybe I was just being picky. Or in a bad mood.

Good book, timely, and informative. A fresh look at a current problem, and if the topic matters to you it’s a book you’ll want on the list.