Terror in the City of Champions
Murder, Baseball, and the Secret Society that Shocked Depression-era Detroit
by Tom Stanton
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Pub Date Jun 01 2016 | Archive Date Jun 10 2016
Rowman & Littlefield | Lyons Press
Description
Terror in the City of Champions opens with the December 1933 arrival of fiery catcher-manager Mickey Cochrane, who rouses the Great Depression’s hardest-hit city from despair by leading the Tigers to the pennant. A year later, he brings the city its first world championship. Within a seven-month span, the Tigers, Lions, and Red Wings win a World Series, NFL title, and Stanley Cup—all while Joe Louis chases boxing’s heavyweight crown.
Amidst the optimism, Dayton Dean unpacks the Legion’s dreadful activities: bodies dumped along roadsides, elaborate apparent suicides, torture victims who refuse to speak, and high-profile assassination plots. Dean’s involvement in the Legion parallels Cochrane’s heroic rise. But the ball player has his own demons, including a close friendship with Harry Bennett, Henry Ford’s brutal union buster.
Award-winning author Tom Stanton’s stunning work of history, crime, and sports, weaves together the terror of the Legion with the magnificent athletic ascension of Detroit. Richly portraying 1930s America, and featuring figures like Louis, the country’s most famous black man; Jewish slugger Hank Greenberg; anti-Semitic Henry Ford; radio priest Father Coughlin; and J. Edgar Hoover, Terror in the City of Champions is a rollicking true tale set at the confluence of hard luck, hope, victory, and violence.
Tom Stanton is author of four nonfiction books, among them the critically acclaimed memoir The Final Season and the Quill Award finalist Ty and the Babe. A journalist for more than thirty years, he founded and owned a group of suburban Detroit newspapers, and won state and national press awards, including a Knight-Wallace Fellowship at the University of Michigan. His books have been reviewed in most major American newspapers, including The New York Times, Wall Street Journal, and USA Today; mentioned in Time, Parade, GQ, and other national magazines; recognized by Indiebound, Great Lakes Booksellers Association, and others; and chosen for best-of-decade lists and county-read programs.He lives in New Baltimore, Michigan.
A Note From the Publisher
Available Editions
| EDITION | Other Format |
| ISBN | 9781493015702 |
| PRICE | $26.00 (USD) |
Links
Featured Reviews
david a, Educator
If you are into history of the depression years, sports and crime this is the riveting book for you. I am into two of those, history and crime though not sports and it was still riveting for me. Terror in the City of Champions opens with the arrival of Mickey Cochrane, a baseball star who roused the Great Depression’s hardest-hit city by leading the Tigers to the 1934 pennant. Not something the Tigers have become accustomed to. 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’s 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.
Award-winning author Tom Stanton weaves a stunning tale of history, crime, and sports. Richly portraying 1930s America, Terror in the City of Champions features a pageant of colorful figures: iconic athletes, sanctimonious criminals, scheming industrial titans, a bigoted radio priest, a love-smitten celebrity couple, J. Edgar Hoover, and two future presidents, Gerald Ford and Ronald Reagan. It is a rollicking true story set at the confluence of hard luck, hope, victory, and violence.
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Casey W, Reviewer
I received a free Kindle copy of the book courtesy of Net Galley and Rowan Littlefield, the publisher. It was with the understanding that I would post a review on Net Galley, Goodreads, Amazon and my review blog. I also posted it on my Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn and Google Plus pages.
I requested a copy of this book as I have an keen interest in baseball and the description sounded fascinating. This is the first book by Tom Stanton that I have read.
The subtitle of the book "Murder, Baseball and the Secret Society that shocked depression-era Detroit" is spot on as to the subject of the book. There are brief mentions of the Detroit Lions and the Detroit Red Wings as they also won championships during the mid-1930's.
The book primarily focuses on two subjects - the Detroit Tigers and the Black Legion. It addresses how the Tigers developed into World Champions for the first time, the relationship of some of the individuals involved with the club and the Black Legion, and the Black Legion itself. I will not spoil the book for those who have not read it, but I will say the the Black Legion gave the Ku Klux Klan a run for their money as to who was the most notorious organization at that time.
I recommend this book for anyone who has an interest in baseball and crime.
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