Once heralded as the spirit of American manufacturing, music and democracy, the Motor City descended into financial and service insolvency over the six decades, culminating in the suspension of local governance in 2013. The State of Michigan sidelined Detroit officials, appointing an emergency manager who then thrust the city into the largest municipal bankruptcy in U.S. history. Gradually, Then Suddenly portrays the inside story of how Detroiters grappled with the suspension of democracy at a time when the very essence of the nation’s grand experiment is under immense pressure. It tells the riveting tale of how the world’s most elite restructuring professionals battled over the pensions of thousands of retired City workers and the prospective liquidation of the Detroit Institute of Arts.