HISTORY LESSON: The history of writing about history in 2025

The year 2025 is well, history. And looking back, my favorite History Lesson columns this year all circled the same idea: there’s almost always a story from Detroit’s past that helps to provide context for today.

The year started and ended on the riverfront. First came a sympathetic look at John Portman and the Renaissance Center, a building Detroiters love to debate. It closed this week with a piece tracing the public funding of Joe Louis Arena to show how today’s stadium fights are part of a much longer civic pattern.

One revisited Henry Louis Gates Jr.’s The Great Migration documentary, asking if he told Detroit’s true story. Another crossed the border, drawing on my experience as a tour guide to explore how U.S. immigration rhetoric—especially during the Trump years—has shaped Canadian perceptions of Detroit and, in very real ways, kept tourism dollars away.

But it wasn’t all heavy. In July, while I was sweating it out in my 113-year-old Detroit home, I chronicled the hottest day in the city’s history. And as summer gave way to football season entered the air, I explored George Plimpton’s Paper Lion and how his stint with the Detroit Lions birthed modern football media.

Taken together, these pieces reflect what I keep coming back to in History Lesson: the stories that got us here, good and bad, are worth sharing. See you in 2026.

HISTORY LESSON: A sympathetic look at the Renaissance Center’s architect, John Portman

HISTORY LESSON: Public financing for pro sports venues then and now

HISTORY LESSON: In telling the Great Migration story, don’t leave out the ugly parts

HISTORY LESSON: How Trump’s influence is keeping Canadians’ tourism dollars out of Detroit

HISTORY LESSON: Fire, blood and baseball on the hottest, most chaotic day in Detroit history

HISTORY LESSON: Paper Lion and the birth of modern NFL media