MARCH 17 • 2022 | 49
doesn’t have a job and he is dis-
gruntled, mad at the world. He
also sees himself as a victim of
a changing society that includes
African Americans, Catholics,
Jews and communists, along
with a grudge against a wide
range of recent immigrants.
Grissom is a perfect recruit for
the notorious KKK-like orga-
nization in Detroit: the Black
Legion. For the decade or so
that the Black Legion existed,
it had members in auto factories, Metro
Detroit police forces, local governments
and other entities.
Following his four main characters, Levin
weaves an interesting, often hard, and, at
times, lurid story as his protagonists nav-
igate police corruption, antisemitism, the
Hunger March and Black Legion terror, all
leading to an assassination attempt on the
mayor of Detroit. Along the way, his nar-
rative includes brief appearances by many
real-life characters such as famed Jewish
labor lawyer Maurice Sugar and Detroit
Mayor Frank Murphy, to name just two.
Although there are several instances where
the insertion of real-life characters seems a
bit gratuitous, such as a clandestine Black
Legion leadership meeting with Henry
Ford, Father Coughlin, Harry Bennett and
recalled Detroit Mayor Charles Bowles
(who was indeed supported by the KKK),
overall, the historical figures are appro-
priately entered into the narrative at key
points.
This is a fascinating portrait of Detroit in
1932, a most tumultuous period of the city’s
history. It is also a good read. The pacing of
the prose is swift. His main composite char-
acters are solid representations of certain
types of people that populated the city, and
their actions are plausible and true-to-life.
Three of them try to do the right thing and
readers will have empathy for them. Levin’s
command of details about the city is also
impressive.
Levin’s historical portrait of the era is
not pretty; but although dark, it rings true.
There is redemption for some characters,
while others contribute to terrible devel-
opments that still haunt us. In this sense,
there is an underlying lesson regarding how
we got to today’s era of rising antisemitism
and far-right white supremist organizations.
As Savage City illustrates, the battle against
these rotten elements is nothing new.
Meet Don Levin
An award-winning fiction writer and poet, Donald Levin is the author
of seven Martin Preuss mysteries, as well as the novel The House of
Grins and two books of poetry. He has worked as a warehouseman,
theater manager, advertising copywriter, scriptwriter, video producer
and political speechwriter. He is now the retired dean of the faculty
and professor of English at the former Marygrove College in Detroit.
Why did you decide to write this historically based fiction?
I had published seven Martin Preuss mysteries in a row, and I felt
the need to step back from writing contemporary mysteries to work
on a broader canvas. My last novel, In the House of Night, saw my main character,
private investigator Martin Preuss, taking on far-right, white supremacist terror-
ism. That book came about because of the revulsion I felt at the 2017 Nazi rally in
Charlottesville. My research showed me that white terrorism in Michigan has a long
and unfortunate history.
How did you prepare to write this volume?
I did a lot of research, consulting books, articles, pamphlets, videos of participants
in the Hunger March, old newspaper clippings, maps and photographs, as well as
looking to historians of the city. I did intensive research in the language and culture
of the 1930s. I wanted to get every detail as right as possible, so researching this
book was a much more granular process than researching my Preuss mysteries.
The more I thought about it, the more 1932 called to me as the time to set the story,
in a city beset by the chaos of the Depression. The March 7 Ford Hunger Strike
seemed like it brought many of the themes from the era together and would, above
all, help me tell a good story.
Are there historical characters that inspired your characters?
I had planned for several real-life people of the period to have cameo roles —
Maurice Sugar, Henry Ford, Father Charles Coughlin, Mayor Frank Murphy, to name
just a few — so fictionalized versions of them make appearances. I developed four
main characters that would represent the different worlds the book would portray,
with a large cast of supporting roles. The only one of those main characters who
was based on a real person is Detective Clarence Brown of the Detroit Police
Department, who is based on an actual Black detective of the time; but, of course, I
fictionalized him and his plot for the purposes of my story.
You write about a lot of dark times in Detroit history. Are there lessons for read-
ers within your work?
I hope so. For readers who take a look around at today’s situation and wonder how
we got here, the book’s partial answer is, we’ve always been here. The Detroit of
1932, rife with hatred, racism antisemitism, anti-labor sentiments, xenophobia, the
unbearable struggle of poverty and inequality, and government corruption, is sadly
similar to the state of America in 2022. At the same time, considerable hope runs
through the book. Each of the four main characters wrestles with the question —
how can I live in such a world? And each comes to his and her own accommoda-
tion. I hope readers will be inspired by what my characters discover.
How did your personal background impact your book?
I am Jewish, and it very much informed the work. One of the main characters is
Jewish and struggles with the antisemitic climate of the time, just as I’m struggling
with the resurgence of antisemitism that we see daily. One of the other main char-
acters is a member of the Black Legion, an explicitly antisemitic, racist organization.
I hope the parallels between the book and today’s rise in white supremacist terror-
ism are both instructive and chilling.