Nestled between the shores of Lake Erie and the entrance to Lake Huron stands Motor City. A thriving center of American industry, a standing monument to American ingenuity, and a very American city of contrasts.

Once a French fur trading post, Detroit's location has seen it through wars and westward expansion. But the founding of the Ford Motor Company would change the city forever. From its perch between the Great Lakes, Detroit became the beating heart of the American automotive industry. Its towering factories and newfound assembly lines producing cars for the world over.

Battered by the Depression, revived by the Second World War as the crux of America's "Arsenal of Democracy," the post-war years have not been kind to Detroit. Fluctuating demand and mass layoffs have provided the foundation for a robust labor movement, while racial tensions between black residents and white migrants have pushed the city to the forefront of the civil rights campaign.

Despite it all, America's Motor City perseveres, producing vehicles for consumers across the Free World. Promise and pitfall pervade Detroit in equal measure, only time will tell where the Motor City will fall.