Michael Moore’s Roger and Me introduced people all over the world to Flint, Michigan, the city that lost more than half its population when General Motors moved most of its plants out of town. In the movie, Moore also visits the site of AutoWorld, an amusement park that promoters predicted would draw a million visitors a year and “save” Flint. It quickly went bust.

Leaving the theater, moviegoers might have wondered, “What more could happen to Flint?” Two new books recount the next chapter.

In 1988, the Michigan Legislature passed an Emergency Financial Manager (EFM) law, enabling the governor to appoint a representative to take over cities and school districts in severe financial trouble and return them to local control only after a city’s fiscal house was deemed in order. Responsible solely to the governor, EFMs were empowered to bypass local elected officials.