Border Cities Powerhouse chronicles one of the most dramatic urban transformations in Canadian history, documenting the shift from modest industry to manufacturing dynamo. The coming of the automobile in 1904 put the Border Cities on the map, sparking a period of explosive growth.

From the bright lights of hydro-electric power and the construction of the Ambassador Bridge to the Battle of Ford City, communist agitation, and the Border Cities’ forced amalgamation during the Great Depression, this was a period of unprecedented progress and open conflict.

Tracing the region’s development through Prohibition, the Dirty Thirties, and the military expansion of the First and Second World Wars, the era reaches its climax during the infamous 1945 Ford Factory Strike, when autoworkers faced off against corporate management in a struggle that would change the face of Canadian labour.

Following the success of The River & the Land: A History of Windsor to 1900, this second book in Patrick Brode’s comprehensive, three-volume history of Windsor captures an age of dramatic change and political struggle.

Patrick Brode has written extensively on Canadian history and law. His works include a biography of one of Canada’s early jurists, Chief Justice John Robinson, as well as Courted and Abandoned, a study of the tort of seduction on the frontier. His more recent writing includes Death in the Queen City about the racially charged murder trial of Clara Ford in Toronto in 1895, The Slasher Killings, on the anti-gay hysteria that accompanied a serial killing in Windsor in 1945, as well as a survey of Canada’s investigation and prosecution of war crimes after the Second World War. Five of these works have been short-listed for Canadian book awards. Patrick was formerly a lecturer at the University of Windsor Faculty of Law. He lives in Windsor, Ontario, and has practiced law there since 1977.

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Praise for The River & The Land

"Fascinating."—The Windsor Star

"As with all of Brode's books, it is thoroughly researched and superbly written."—Biz X Magazine