Once the manufacturing powerhouse of the US, Detroit has become emblematic of failing cities everywhere and the epicentre of an explosive growth in images of urban decay. In Beautiful Terrible Ruins, art historian Dora Apel explores a wide array of these images. She shows how Detroit has become pivotal to an expanding network of ruin imagery, imagery ultimately driven by a growing cultural pessimism, a loss of faith in progress, and a fear that worse times are coming.