Savage City

by Donald Levin

Detroit. 1932. The fates of four people converge during a violent week of labor unrest in the bleakest year of the Great Depression. Detective Clarence Brown is one of a handful of Black officers in the Detroit Police Department, navigating a thicket of lies and racism to find the killer of a young Black man. Ben Rubin wants to move from petty crime into the ranks of Detroit’s notorious Purple Gang. Elizabeth Waters is a fiercely independent Communist sympathizer who has turned her back on her privileged Grosse Pointe upbringing to join the workers’ fight for a piece of the American dream. Roscoe Grissom is an unemployed auto worker enlisted by the fearsome Black Legion to sow terror as a night-riding emissary of hate.

Against the backdrop of the bloody Ford Hunger March, events hurl these four into the center of a political storm that will change them forever. Savage City spellbindingly captures a key inflection point in the creation of modern American life.

“Layered, powerful, and sharp . . . In a word, brilliant. [Levin's] insightful ruminations on the nature of power, bloodshed, class and racial disparity, fascism, the labor problems of the era, and universal truth gives depth as well as substance to the affecting narrative.” –The Prairies Book Review

Genres: Fiction

424 pages, Paperback

Published November 21, 2021

Reviews

[Rick Bailey · Rating 5 out of 5]

Anyone looking at the current state of affairs in the US–the violence, racism, poverty, and corruption–will ask, How did we get here? The answer presented in Donald Levin’s Savage City is that we’ve always been here.

Levin takes the reader to Detroit in the Spring of 1932. The Great Depression is in full swing, as is the Great Migration. Competing forces in organized crime–the Purple Gang, the Sicilian mob–are vying for control of the city’s vice economy. The Black Legion, a white nationalist spinoff of the Klu Klux Klan, is intent upon taking the country back from Blacks, Jews, and Communists. On March 7, 1932, in a hunger march from Detroit to the Ford Rouge plant, demonstrators will be met by armed goons and police, led by Harry Bennett, Henry Ford’s enforcer. There’s plenty of death in the streets of this novel.

In four meticulously plotted and interwoven narrative threads, Levin does the work of both a sociologist and an accomplished storyteller. To get a feel for the scope and narrative tension of this novel, think Martin Scorcese and Gangs of New York.

Levin’s gifts as a writer are everywhere on display. His impressive knowledge of Detroit geography, for example. More than once I went to Google Maps to find the exact street corner or neighborhood where action unfolds. His knowledge of key players in the power struggles of the period (see references at the end of the novel). His unerring feel for subcultures and ethnicities impressively in evidence in references to food, clothing, and the cadence and lingo of characters’ speech.

The detail is striking. In Paradise Alley and the Black Bottom district of Detroit, Levin shows us “the deeper woe of powerlessness.” We see a corrupt cop’s “slimy grin,” his “oily leer.” A Jewish kid “jiving down the sidewalk . . . jaunty, moving with a rolling gait to a rhythm only he can hear.” And Levin simply has an unfailing ear for talk on the street. “Hear anything about a Cadillac?” Clarence asks. “Might have did,” LaMont says coyly.”

The poison in the heart of the savage city is the poison in the heart of our savage country, incisively stated here, when a character “[imagines] himself in an apocalypse of blood, gunfire, and flames leading to the renewal of these United States as a white Christian nation.”

Donald Levin’s considerable gifts are impressively at work in his Martin Preuss mystery series, which follows private investigator Martin Preuss into the seamy side of contemporary Detroit. (His most recent novel in the series is In the House of the Night.) The taut plotting and razor sharp language of those novels is everywhere on display here, on the much broader stage.

Savage City is a wonderful book. More, Donald Levin. Give us more.

[Reader Views · Rating 5 out of 5]

I love history. I feel that when I look back on historical events, it’s far easier to separate the “bad” guy from the “good.” In addition, whether speaking about Prohibition, the Great Depression, either World War, etc., the characters etched in history were unique, intelligent, skilled, and always seemed to have a cause…even those that represented evil. Add this love with the fact that author Donald Levin has established himself to be a terrific writer, and you can see why I was absolutely ecstatic to read “Savage City” by Donald Levin. Veering away from his Martin Preuss mystery series, Levin created this standalone that’s a mixture of fiction and history woven together perfectly. And I do not kid when I say that once you read the first page, leave your light on, because you’re not going to put this down until the last page has been read.

It’s 1932; America is in total chaos. Detroit, said to have been the hardest city hit during these times, is home to a quartet of completely different people who are introduced to the reader one by one. First, we’re on the streets with Detective Clarence Brown of the Detroit P.D.. A Black man experiencing his own racial difficulties, Brown is standing on the street, adjusting the pearl-handled Colt pistols in his holsters, and staring into Joe’s Record Store where a criminal just entered. This man named Andre likes to steal codeine-laced cough syrup from drugstores and resell them to addicts in pain. Even though Clarence doesn’t take Andre back to a cell, that night a neighbor knocks on his door. She’s hysterical because her son, Darius, has gone missing. Now this woman comes to Clarence because he helps the people, and even Clarence knows that most others in the department wouldn’t even bother trying to find the young Black boy. What the detective doesn’t know is that this case will lead him into a world he wasn’t expecting.

We then meet Ben Rubin. A petty criminal, Ben is out this night with his pal Eddie getting ready to commit armed robbery. They’re used to petty crimes, such as stealing purses and robbing drunks, but this will be the first time they do something huge. His Uncle Moe tries to help Ben, but Moe has a hard life where a dollar is difficult to find and Ben doesn’t want that future. He wants to join the Purples. Known to be a group of Jewish gangsters, Ben desires the excitement and longs for the respect the Purples receive.

Elizabeth Waters is a rich girl; her life is one of absolute privilege. But Elizabeth has no desire to live as some debutante. With a title of Assistant to the Creative Staff, she sits in a writers’ room every day and assists authors who get drunk when they should be working. This night she heads through the Boston-Edison district which is famous for mansions. Marching by them, she reaches the steps of a more modest yellow brick house and enters. The group inside consists of some people she knows from the meetings of the Communist Party and the Unemployed Councils—groups she believes in, being a Communist sympathizer, herself, that support the unemployed workers of Detroit. They’re getting ready for (what history will remember as) the Ford Hunger March; an event that ended up being a massacre. Although Elizabeth has rejected her status, there’s a monkey on her back she calls “Ms. Em” – a liquid drug that takes away her pain.

Lastly, Roscoe Grissom is an auto worker whose life is about to change. During dinner this night he’s picked up by his friends and taken to a meeting to “discuss insurance.” This meeting turns out to be with members of the Black Legion. A split-off from the infamous KKK, this white supremacist group tests the auto workers and ends up hiring Roscoe to bring terror, fear, and death to those who the Legion feels deserves all three.

And that’s just one night! I am chomping at the bit to say so much more, but I can’t. I have never seen so many unique, action-packed, brilliantly written layers in one book. The scenery jumps off the page, the dialogue is perfection, and the research done for this one blows the mind. This tale shows that pretending we are all “brothers” back then (and today?) is simply that: pretending. In reality, under the skin, traitors and haters exist, not friends. If other future titles are even remotely like this, avid readers like me have a fantastic 2022 to look forward to. I give “Savage City” by Donald Levin a well-deserved “5-Star” review!

[James Michels · Rating 5 out of 5]

It’s 1932 Detroit, a time of mass unemployment, racism, and rampant crime on the streets. In the middle are four completely different characters from different backgrounds, whose fates are intertwined together.
Clarence is a black detective in a white-dominated police force. He’s both tough and smart, with a cynical outlook on life, and I love every minute of it.
Ben’s a small-time thief, who may not be cut out for the life of crime he’s trying to lead. Far from a one-dimensional character, he’s relatable and has a good heart underneath his rough exterior.
Elizabeth is an activist, a crusader for the Communist movement among the unemployed and unfortunate of Detroit’s poor. However, she’s not without her own personality flaws, which goes to show you that even good people aren’t perfect.
Then there’s Roscoe, the type of person you love to hate. He’s racist, sexist, anti-Semitic, yet he’s ignorant of his own deeply hateful character. And when he’s ordered to commit murder on behalf of the white supremacist secret society, The Black Legion, he’s potentially dangerous.
This story has an incredibly amount of noir and suspense with plenty of surprising twists as a conspiracy that reaches the highest levels of Detroit society brings these four unlikely characters to an epic conclusion. Great read.

[D.K. Marley · Rating 5 out of 5]

''Clarence never talks about his days. Going through them is bad enough without having to relive them in the retelling.''

'' Elizabeth takes another sip from the bottle. The gin burns all the way down. It makes her stomach turn over and her head spin, ands she remembers she hasn't eaten since lunch.''

Two tiny snippets from the very first chapters of Donald Levin's remarkable 'Savage City'; a chilling and superb series of acutely drawn portraits of four individuals over a period of  a week in a bitterly cold March in Detroit in 1932. Leading seemingly quite separate existences in this troubled city, their lives become indivisible and interwoven over a very short period of time. What all four of the protagonists share in common is a sense of failure and a depressed and impotent anger at the life they are living, a shared rage against the system that has shaped and enslaved them. They are, all of them, kicking without effect against a series of heavily bolted doors. All the necessary ingredients for a thrilling 'film noir' set against the bleak and chilling backdrop of a freezing cold Depression era Detroit are present.  Scandal and corruption is everywhere, in Government and in the Police Force. Crime of the very worst type is omnipresent, a daily, dreary commonplace. That which isn't being controlled by the Police themselves is in the hands of the Sicilian Mafia and other competing gangs. At lower levels, in the large Hispanic and black and Jewish communities, for example, crime and violence, deprivation and unemployment in the desperately wretched communities is endemic. It is, of course, the time of the Great Depression and of Prohibition, a 'sine na quon'  for all that Levin mercilessly reveals and dissects, as if with a surgeon's scalpel.

Four very disparate and totally unconnected people are about to experience the most chaotic and disturbing week of their lives. It will be a week that will bring them all into close proximity in a violent spiral of events that will affect their lives forever. 

Clarence Brown is a rare thing; a black detective in the Detroit Police force. In his precinct there is only one other black cop . He is a very big man, tough, hard boiled and wearily cynical from his experiences on the streets in the rougher parts of Detroit. He is married to Bessie, both mourning the loss of a young son. In his rare moments of relaxation he is a devoted jazz fan and an old hand at training young black boys for baseball and in organising fixtures for a black league. Most days he is on the streets and involved in dealing with small time crime and sleaze. His life brings him into daily contact with a veritable galaxy of people, from low life petty criminals to major players in the world of crime. He knows them all, their activities and where they might likely be found at any given time, day or night. At the moment he is particularly concerned with the missing son of a  black neighbour, whom he had once nurtured as a truly gifted baseball player. Nothing especially unusual in that, Clarence usually gets assigned to tasks that his white colleagues [who loathe him] refuse to do. But this is personal, a favour to a neighbour.
Ben Rubin is twenty five years old. He is from the large and largely down-trod Jewish community and is anxious to raise his profile within the Jewish 'Purple Gang', once powerful but now falling into decline and encroached upon by fast growing Sicilian Mafia gangs. He and his family are involved with the gang and when first the reader encounters him he is on his way to an ill fated robbery at a movie theatre.
Elizabeth Watson, aged thirty three, is a much put upon employee at a local radio station, technically responsible for the production of scripts.Not entirely from choice, she has turned her back on her previous privileged background and lifestyle in one of the richer parts of Detroit. Now she has a morphine habit from self medicating a serious injury to her hip caused by an automobile accident. She is also, and most significantly, actively involved in Communist activities. These range from assisting at one of the city's soup kitchens to monitoring the activities
 of the illegal and heavy handed and repressive tactics of the squad of thugs funded by the Henry Ford Automobile Group. At the moment a large protest march is being organised.
The last member of this ill matched quartet is a man called Roscoe Grissom. Originally from Tennessee, he has migrated to Detroit in search of work. He is unemployed, painfully bitter and extremely unhappily married with a wife and three daughters whom he loathes in a run down house in one of the poorer parts of town..The emotion is mutual. Roscoe is, in short, a loser with a low intelligence and with no apparent prospects. He is profoundly racist and drawn to extremist right wing views. It is perhaps inevitable that he becomes attracted to and recruited by an extremist right wing organisation called 'The Black legion'. It is an Organisation that he feels profoundly attached to; it has given him a reason for living. Apart from humble infantry such as himself and large numbers of serving police officers, the Legion also numbers of extremely high ranking Government officials, influential representatives from the Media, the Police and Industry. Very soon, through a whole series of events, he is selected for the task of assassinating the Mayor of Detroit himself, who has long been an inconvenient thorn in the flesh of the Black Legion and other interested parties.

When the reader of 'Savage City' has read this far [and it does not take long to reach this point], he or she becomes quite correctly aware that this is a complete stew of a situation, a powder keg waiting to explode in violence. By which time, the reader has become utterly engrossed in the action and the sheer expertise [for there is no other word for it] with which  Donald Levin describes the scenes, builds up the action and illuminates his four characters with a truly enviable skill against this background of tension brought about by poverty, gang activities in all its manifestations, corruption and extremist politics. By this point the reader is undeniably hooked as individuals and events occur and combine. It must be said at this point that Levin paints an exquisite portrait of this freezing and miserable city of Detroit with uncanny  'A to Z' precision. He knows the place like the veritable back of his hand. All this is delivered in taut, laconic present tense prose and with pure 'Chandleresque' moments of dialogue and description. At one point in his very busy working day and in pursuit of one of his many 'leads', Clarence Brown, for example, is directed to a particular apartment in, naturally, a seedy part of town:

''In front of a fireplace are three white men. For a moment he wonders if they are part of the Purple Gang. The one in the middle holds a tommy gun; the others stand with their hands in their overcoat pockets; like gangsters. All are in fedoras. They look like they were sent over by Central Casting......'' Just a brief moment later in the description of the scene comes an immortal line beloved by all 'Godfather' buffs everywhere....''Black Bill Tocco says Hello.''

But, and the point must be stressed, this is no mere detective story. The descriptions of both scenes and the harrowing profiles of individuals are exquisite, elevating this book to a level far higher than that. Here is Elizabeth Watson again. She has had a particularly difficult past few days for reasons that this reviewer will not explain:

''She [Elizabeth] 'freshens up'. She leans on the sink, gazing into her own face in the mirror. Beyond the effect of the past two days, she sees the signs she is getting old. She is haggard, with dark circles under her eyes and a fine network of wrinkles angling from the corners of her mouth and eyes.''

As a very welcome addition, there is at the end of the book a list and brief description of all the characters in the book and also a set of extremely thoughtful and useful questions for further consideration, along with a biography. It is, perhaps, an occupational hazard for the reviewer of books to become cynical.But this particular reviewer has nothing but praise for the high quality of this work, praise for its extraordinary descriptive powers and its level of maintained excitement. 'Savage City' is a description coined by the weary Detective Clarence Brown. It is an apt description and an ideal title for the book as a whole. It has been a rare pleasure to have been held in thrall by its power.

I cannot be the only isolated reviewer who thinks that this book has all the makings of a first class motion picture.

*****
“Savage City” by Donald Levin receives five stars from The Historical Fiction Company and the “Highly Recommended” award of excellence for historical fiction.

[J Rose · Rating 5 out of 5]

Donald Levin is a remarkable storyteller bringing to life the city of Detroit, Michigan, in 1932 and exposing the racism, communism, anti-semtism and labor disruptions during that time period. His mastery of developing full characters and weaving these four very very very different people through the narrative brings the reader right into the chaos, the "blind pigs" and danger. Levin's research is thorough as evidenced when he places the action against the background of historical events in the city unfold. The story grabbed me from the beginning and never let go until I finished the book. If you like tough, gritty, sometimes disturbingly powerful scenes, and characters you care about, then you will like reading Savage City.

[Book Reviewer · Rating 5 out of 5]

In the aftermath of the global economic crisis of 1932, the Savage City of Detroit has become a microcosm of the subsequent ferocities of the century. Amid the murky politics between the capitalists in control and the Communist-backed Unemployed Council for the worker’s rights, there are Black Legions, Purples, and Sicilians, the criminal organizations with their ridiculous radical views and drugs trade. With the backdrop of the 1932 Ford Hunger March, the four protagonists of this crime thriller encounter, and are stuck in, the political and criminal deluge that irrevocably change their fate forever.

Within the span of eight days before a six-week leap in the story, the narratives of the four main characters in the psychological thriller expose the frustration and helplessness of common people just getting by with their lives in the racially divided, xenophobic, and brutal city of Detroit, where a person’s life is as fragile as an acorn. Detective Clarence Brown’s agitation and utmost efforts while tracking down the killer of a teenage colored boy reveals the general disbelief in the preposterous prejudice against black citizens. On the other hand, Ben, the Jewish victim of racial persecution, and Elizabeth, the member of a communist league, demonstrate the victims of tragic circumstances, emblematic of the society in general.

The author Donald Levin fuses aspects of the historical Ford Hunger March in 1932 with fictional characters and plots that make for an engaging and powerful read. As the story unfolds, the scenes with more than one protagonist offer an extra perspective through the character’s self-narratives. This allows for a clear and precise description of the event and thus enhancing the sense of inclusivity and anticipation.

This crime thriller features a large number of minor characters to add depth to the plot, which both adds excitement and complexity. It’s ideal for readers who prefer reading novels with numerous and distinctive characters.

Savage City reveals the stark reality of the Great Depression in its most vivid colors, showing the desperation of a city crippled by the consequences of the masses of frustrated men and women, crushed between dirty politics and corrupt authorities. It is answered explicitly by the many characters in the novel as to who transforms a city into a savage beast. This intense book is ideal for readers who want a glimpse into the human psyche of a city affected by a bull-headed and corrupt system, perfectly encapsulated in a brilliant work of fiction.

[LiA · Rating 4 out of 5]

I tend to be skeptical, when a novel seems to consist of a collection of short stories or is being told from various characters' perspectives. However, Donald Levin, has made a good job of it, and I was intrigued from the very first moment, and interested in following all these cues and traces of people, whose destinies in the City of Detroit are connected and intertwined. I enjoyed the read.

[Randa Feldman · Rating 5 out of 5]

Savage City is an historical fiction novel taking place in Detroit, Michigan in 1932. Donald Levin paints a picture of the brutality of the era. It was a time during prohibition and the depression. People were out of work, down and out, anxious, angry, and desperate. Fights broke out in the streets and at soup kitchens. The Jewish Purple Gang, Italian mobsters, and the White Supremacist Black Legion were vicious and violent. Widespread bigotry, police brutality, and corrupt politicians were pervasive. Henry Ford and Father Charles Coughlin flaunted their antisemitic and pro-fascist views. It was a dangerous time.
Given this background of pain and savagery, Donald Levin focuses on 4 diverse main characters and follows their navigation through one awful week. First, Detective Clarence Brown was one of very few black officers in the Detroit Police Department. He wore a home-made bulletproof vest for protection. While combatting racism, he worked to solve the lynching and murder of a promising young black man. Second, Ben Rubin, a young Jewish hoodlum, wanted to rise from petty crime into the ranks of the notorious Purple Gang. His very first attempt at a big robbery did not go as he planned. Third, Elizabeth Waters grew up wealthy in Gross Pointe, a prosperous Detroit suburb. She denied her upbringing and joined the ranks of the Communist Party to fight for workers’ rights. She participated in the bloody Hunger March against The Ford Motor Company. And finally, fourth, Roscoe Grissom was an unemployed miserable, angry man. He hated his life, hated his wife, and hated his daughters. He found comradery and brotherhood in the white supremacy group, The Black Legion, and was willing to commit heinous crimes and murderous violence as a member of the group.
Savage City is a fast-paced book, which becomes an absolute page turner as the reader wants to know what happens to the characters. Donald Levin accurately portrays the era. He describes the geography of the area incorporating street names that wound through Detroit in the 1930’s. This novel is rich with period language, slang, hairstyles, and dress. It even includes a description of the ridiculous garb of the white supremacist group complete with Pirate hats.
As horrible as it was, one cannot help but reflect and compare the upheaval of the 1930’s to today’s politics and divisive atmosphere in America.

[Camellia · Rating 5 out of 5]

So well written! Just 4 characters make up this powerful novel set in Detroit in 1932. Highly recommend this book.

[Sharon · Rating 4 out of 5]

I enjoyed the historical background of a time period I’m not well versed in.

The well written story follows 4 ppl. Roscoe, Elizabeth, Ben and Clarence. I think it perhaps was one too many. Roscoe was a purposely unsympathetic character, Elizabeth was more appealing but hard to align with for me (others may find her easier). Ben had issues but was a good guy after he got over his attraction for the thug life, Clarence had a pretty accurate viewpoint for the time period he inhabits.
I did enjoy the read due to my familiarity with the city.

I’ve never lived in the city but this story put me there. Neighborhoods I’ve been to and places I’ve been. With a side trip to the Soo to keep it fun. This author has a light touch with children. I’ve noticed it in other books he’s written.

All in all, a good read.

[Paul · Rating 4 out of 5]

Levin seems to have "it" which I guess is talent. He's got great writing chops, and it shows here. I stayed engaged with this story, and like a couple of things that surprised me along the way. Recommended.

I really appreciate the free review copy for review!!

[Mark Love · Rating 5 out of 5]

Donald Levin is a master storyteller. This tale goes back in time to the chaos of Detroit in 1932. In the midst of the Great Depression, Levin mixes fictional characters and actions with real people and actual events.

Levin has a gift for creating memorial characters and realistic dialogue. He has a great ear for capturing slang and terms appropriate for that period. While Levin focuses on four main characters, he introduces other key players that keep the story moving.

Donald Levin hits this one out of the ballpark. I thoroughly enjoyed this book and would highly recommend it.

[Alexis · Rating 3 out of 5]

I wasn't that well versed in the history of Detroit so found this part of the book interesting and enjoyed that part of it but I wasn't that engaged with the characters. The way author weaved them together was simple but clever so it felt like the book got to where it should.

The way it was written made me think it would be a far more exciting film than book. It wasn't an automatic page-turner but enjoyable nonetheless.

Thanks to Netgalley and the publisher for the ARC of this book in return for an honest review.

[Nan Pokerwinski · Rating 5 out of 5]

Cinematic, riveting, Savage City is everything you want in noir fiction. Plus so much more. With its deftly intertwined storylines, insiders’ views of Detroit history, and themes of racial and class disparity, hate groups, and other issues so relevant today, this book is as thought-provoking as it is engaging.

Having lived in, worked in, and loved the “savage city,” I read a lot of books about Detroit. This is one of the best I’ve read.

[Shell · Rating 4 out of 5]

Good historical book about the experience in Detroit in 1932. It relives the how the capitalists thought the Communist to be such a threat that violence was used by the government to try and topple them. How the Blacks, the Jews, the Mexicans, anyone that wasn't white was seen as lazy, not mattering, not worth anything. A hard read with the violence, but a reminder of how things were. A lesson to learn and not repeat.

[Steve Rhinelander · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is a terrific book. I could not put it down.

It gives the reader what feels like an excellent snapshot of life in Detroit in 1932. It focuses on an important but often overlooked historical event. The author did a wonderful job of developing the four main characters, and I thought all four characters were fascinating.

[Sarah Newton · Rating 4 out of 5]

Goodvstory

Fun reading about the city I love in a time before I was born. The writing is fine. The language is plain and the characters, real and imagined, well drawn.

[Marilynn · Rating 5 out of 5]

So much fun to read about Detroit in the 20’s and 30’s. Good detective story a historical fiction

[Tom Hayward · Rating 4 out of 5]

Conclusion was a little underwhelming but I would recommend this book to anyone, especially if you have lived in the Detroit area