ARTS&LIFE
BOOK REVIEW

(Poison Toe Press: Ferndale, MI, 2024)
A

n outstanding professor I studied with
thought that the teaching of history
could be reduced to one salient lesson.
When asked about a particular moment in time,
as much as recalling the facts of important events
and issues, could one of his students envision the
way people lived at that time? What did they wear
or eat? Where did they live, and how
did they make a living? What were
the sights and sounds of the era? The
landscape?
This professor would be proud of
Don Levin’s latest work, The Ghosts
of Detroit. This book is an excellent
portrait of a moment of time and
place, its sights, sounds and smells, as
experienced by four central characters
living in the Motor City in 1955.
The Ghosts of Detroit is the third book in Levin’s
excellent series of Detroit stories. The first, Savage
City was set in the city in 1932; the second, The
Arsenal of Deceit, in 1941. The Ghosts of Detroit
leaps ahead another decade to the 1950s when
Detroit was a city seemingly on top of the world.
In 1955, Detroit was the fourth-
largest city in America, prosperous
and boasting nearly 2 million citi-
zens. It was the center of automobile
manufacturing, the nation’s and the
world’s undisputed premier indus-
try. Detroit was nicknamed the
“
Arsenal of Democracy” for its role
toward winning WWII, when the
region produced about 25% of the
heavy war material. Downtown was
vibrant; the suburbs were growing.
But, there was a dark undercurrent
of social unrest.
Levin’s work is akin to the Film Noir movies
of the late-1940s and early-1950s, as he explores
post-WWII Detroit. On one hand, the Allies had
won the “Good War,” defeated despicable ene-
mies, and soldiers, sailors, Coasties and Marines
returned to a genuine heroes’ welcome. There was
pent-up demand for consumer goods, and there
was a “Baby Boom.” On the other, however, there

were serious, long-standing social ills such as rac-
ism, antisemitism and labor exploitation that were
beginning to bubble up and over the so-called
melting pot of Detroit and America.
Using the effective literary formula from his
previous Detroit volumes, Levin provides insights
for readers as he follows four central, interconnect-
ed fictional characters as they struggle with the
contemporary political/social environment. In this
case, Jewish Detroiter Jake Lieberman, a former
artist for the Detroit News and soldier, who was one
of the first to see liberated Nazi death camps and is
still haunted by the experience; Malone Coleman, a
Black worker who struggles with the racial tensions
of the era, as well as with his suppressed desire
to be an artist; Bridget McManus, a police officer
with the Women’s Division of the Detroit Police
Department, who faces overt sexism at every turn,
and is also haunted by her past; and Anna Miller,
a woman with huge potential as a photographer,
eking out a living, while yearning for love. And
there is a mystery. A serial killer is lurking.
Levin tells their stories within a distinct histor-
ical moment, often based upon real events. The
“Communist Scare” was the dominant issue in
mid-1950s America. The FBI, local civic authorities
and Congress hunted high and low
for suspected communists. Many are
caught in this net, whether they are
actually communists or not, often
accused on mere associations from
their past. It reminds one of the
political and cultural divides of our
modern times.
Most impressive, in The Ghosts of
Detroit, the author builds an exacting
portrait of the Motor City in that
era. Some of his venues and people
are icons of the era: streetcars, factories, neigh-
borhoods and Northland Mall; Walter Reuther,
Coleman Young and Soupy Sales. Some icons are
not commonplace but might be remembered by
some. I did not know that the Hughes & Hatcher
Men’s store at Northland Mall maintained monkeys
in a cage! If that isn’t the 1950s, like chimpanzees
on roller skates…. Although a work of fiction, as
one reads this book, Detroit comes alive; more so

perhaps, than any academic study of the city.
All happens within solidly written prose that
builds pace as it goes. Once Levin introduces his
characters and sets the stage, the pace increases,
and it becomes a bona fide page turner. The book
does explore the dark-side, the noir-side, if you
will, of the Motor City. There is, however, hope and
redemption waiting for the reader.
Writing good historical fiction is not easy but
Levin does the job well. This is a good read, one
that will enlighten any reader interested in all
things Detroit, and those who just like a good
story.

Don Levin is a local Jewish author and former dean at

Marygrove College. He was raised in Detroit, and has lived in

Ferndale for the past 25 years and now works as a writer.

The Ghosts of Detroit

by Donald Levin

54 | DECEMBER 12 • 2024
J
N

Mike Smith
Alene and
Graham Landau
Archivist Chair

Don Levin

Would you like to learn more?
Join Mike Smith and Don Levin at 11 a.m. on
Sunday, Jan. 19, at Schuler Books on Orchard
Lake for the inaugural Jewish News Book Club.
See the ad in this JN for details of this free
event. Mention the book club at Schuler Books
for 20% off The Ghosts of Detroit.