Terror in the City of Champions by Tom Stanton
Detroit, mid-1930s: In a city abuzz over its unrivaled sports success, gun-loving baseball fan Dayton Dean became ensnared in the nefarious and deadly Black Legion. The secretive, Klan-like group was executing a wicked plan of terror, murdering enemies, flogging associates, and contemplating armed rebellion. The Legion boasted tens of thousands of members across the Midwest, among them politicians and prominent citizens-even, possibly, a beloved athlete. Terror in the City of Champions opens with the arrival of Mickey Cochrane, a fiery baseball star who roused the Great Depression's hardest-hit city by leading the Tigers to the 1934 pennant. A year later he guided the team to its first championship. Within seven months the Lions and Red Wings follow in football and hockey-all while Joe Louis chased boxing's heavyweight crown. Amidst such glory, the Legion's dreadful toll grew unchecked: staged suicides, bodies dumped along roadsides, high-profile assassination plots. Talkative Dayton Dean's involvement would deepen as heroic Mickey Cochrane's reputation would rise. But the ballplayer had his own demons, including a close friendship with Harry Bennett, Henry Ford's brutal union buster.
[A] head-turning tale of the generally forgotten Black Legion terrorist group and Detroit in the 1930s* Us News and World Report *
(starred review) A veteran journalist uses a variety of lenses to illuminate the dark story of the Black Legion, an association of murderous (white) domestic terrorists who briefly thrived in the upper Midwest. Stanton unfolds the history of the Legion gradually, always keeping it in the social, cultural, and economic context of the area where it was born and grew…. First-rate reporting and a seminar in how to employ context in investigative and historical journalism. * Kirkus *
“With the racist Black Legion spreading evil and the rambunctious Detroit Tigers bringing joy, Detroit’s seemingly eternal forces of darkness and light coexist in this captivating slice of American history.” —David Maraniss, Pulitzer Prize winner and author of Once in a Great City: A Detroit Story and When Pride Still Mattered: A Life of Vince Lombardi
"Today, Detroit is a shadow of its former self. This fascinating book reveals what an astonishing place it formerly was. Eight decades ago, it was a boiling cauldron of social extremism, extravagant criminality, and athletic excellence. Readers of this book have a new understanding of the city and the Thirties." —George F. Will
(Starred Review) If you’re looking for a book that combines sports, crime, and history in one package, look no further…. For fans of books about baseball, Depression-era American History, and crime nonfiction, this book is a must-read. * Booklist *
Stanton's masterly prose is thoroughly engaging from cover to cover. * Library Journal *
Glittering triumphs cover up a sordid racist conspiracy in this lively vignette…. Swerving between hysterical excitement and hysterical fear, the city embodied the roiling socioeconomic and ideological currents of the 1930s…. a cauldron of racial tensions, police brutality, and strife between management and workers. * Publishers Weekly *
(starred review) A veteran journalist uses a variety of lenses to illuminate the dark story of the Black Legion, an association of murderous (white) domestic terrorists who briefly thrived in the upper Midwest. Stanton unfolds the history of the Legion gradually, always keeping it in the social, cultural, and economic context of the area where it was born and grew…. First-rate reporting and a seminar in how to employ context in investigative and historical journalism. * Kirkus *
“With the racist Black Legion spreading evil and the rambunctious Detroit Tigers bringing joy, Detroit’s seemingly eternal forces of darkness and light coexist in this captivating slice of American history.” —David Maraniss, Pulitzer Prize winner and author of Once in a Great City: A Detroit Story and When Pride Still Mattered: A Life of Vince Lombardi
"Today, Detroit is a shadow of its former self. This fascinating book reveals what an astonishing place it formerly was. Eight decades ago, it was a boiling cauldron of social extremism, extravagant criminality, and athletic excellence. Readers of this book have a new understanding of the city and the Thirties." —George F. Will
(Starred Review) If you’re looking for a book that combines sports, crime, and history in one package, look no further…. For fans of books about baseball, Depression-era American History, and crime nonfiction, this book is a must-read. * Booklist *
Stanton's masterly prose is thoroughly engaging from cover to cover. * Library Journal *
Glittering triumphs cover up a sordid racist conspiracy in this lively vignette…. Swerving between hysterical excitement and hysterical fear, the city embodied the roiling socioeconomic and ideological currents of the 1930s…. a cauldron of racial tensions, police brutality, and strife between management and workers. * Publishers Weekly *
Tom Stanton is the author of several nonfiction books, among them the critically acclaimed memoir The Final Season and the Quill Award finalist Ty and The Babe. A longtime journalist, he teaches at the University of Detroit Mercy. Stanton co-founded and edited the suburban Detroit Voice newspapers, winning state and national press awards, including a Knight-Wallace Fellowship at the University of Michigan. He and wife Beth Bagley-Stanton live in New Baltimore, Michigan.
| SKU | Unavailable |
| ISBN 13 | 9781493030583 |
| ISBN 10 | 1493030582 |
| Title | Terror in the City of Champions |
| Author | Tom Stanton |
| Condition | Unavailable |
| Binding Type | Paperback |
| Publisher | Rowman & Littlefield |
| Year published | 2017-08-01 |
| Number of pages | 352 |
| Cover note | Book picture is for illustrative purposes only, actual binding, cover or edition may vary. |
| Note | Unavailable |