Arc of Justice: A Saga of Race, Civil Rights, and Murder in the Jazz Age
by Kevin Boyle
published
May 1st 2005
(first published 2004)
by Owl Books
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binding
Paperback, 448 pages
literary awards
National Book Award for Nonfiction (2004)
isbn
0805079335
(isbn13: 9780805079333)
description
In 1925, Detroit was a smoky swirl of jazz, speakeasies, and assembly lines and tensions often flared with the KKK in ascendance and violence rising. ...more
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other reviews (showing 1-20 of 300)
A fine history of a case I knew absolutely nothing about, but now am off in search of more info. I recommend it very highly, but keep in mind that this is not a novel, but a history, and that as such, even though it moves quickly, there are times when the author doesn't go from point A to point B as in a novel but stops to present factors that led up to this period in time.
The case in question begins in 1925 in Detroit, when Dr. Ossian Sweet and his wife move into a house that is outside the...more
The case in question begins in 1925 in Detroit, when Dr. Ossian Sweet and his wife move into a house that is outside the...more
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Read in January, 2006
The National Book Award-winning nonfiction account of an African-American doctor (Dr. Ossian Sweet) who moves into a white neighborhood in Detroit in 1925, and the murder that occurs as a result of the white mob riot that tries to force out the doctor from the neighborhood. The book traces the history of Sweet and his family, as well as the larger history of segregation and racism that shaped not only Dr. Sweet and his reaction to the mob violence, but also shaped Detroit, the nation, and race ...more
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Read in February, 2008
recommends it for:
subprime lenders, the big three, anyone who voted for kwame kilpatrick
A long, slow, excellent read. Each dense level---the personal story of Dr. Ossian Sweet, the organizational maturation of the early civil rights movement, the rugged, violent, ethnic-based politics of Detroit in the 1920s, the Sweet trial itself---delivers the same contemporary truth in different ways: racism will not go quietly, if ever, because too many institutions and individuals depend on it for both self-esteem and profit.
Boyle uses the 1925 murder trial of Sweet, his wife, and a doze...more
Boyle uses the 1925 murder trial of Sweet, his wife, and a doze...more
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Read in August, 2006
recommends it for:
everyone
Boyle may be an academic historian but he writes like a novelist. It takes a great story--African Americans asserting their rights and defending them with guns--and puts it into historical context. There are no saintly heroes in this book but real sometimes conflicted people.
Basically it's about a young African American physician in Detroit in the early 1920s who wants to move out of his all-black overcrowded neighborhood and buys a house in a white neighborhood. After numerous threats and whil...more
Basically it's about a young African American physician in Detroit in the early 1920s who wants to move out of his all-black overcrowded neighborhood and buys a house in a white neighborhood. After numerous threats and whil...more
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Read in October, 2007
This book is a non-fictional telling of the history of race relations in Detroit, which are only marginally better now than in the 1920's. Parts of it are as chilling as any piece of horror fiction, doubling the effect by knowing the truth of it. This is the story of what a devastating tool fear is and how it is so expertly used to control others. I think I will now always look at people in authority and ask myself "What method does he/she use to exert control?" If it is that he trie...more
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Read in January, 2008
I really expected this book to be an exciting read, and it wasn't. The topic seemed basically interesting, a bit of urban and social history that I don't know much about and so forth, plus lots of famous people and courtroom drama centering around a black doctor in Detroit who gets accused of murder because when a white mob attacks his house, someone in the mob gets shot. I think the problem was the author didn't find a way to make his characters into interesting people (the doctor comes across ...more
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Story of Race, Civil Rights and Murder in the Jazz Age. Loved that Darrow's ideal juror was an Irishman. Darrow wanted Irish men on his jury because they are "emotional, kindly, and sympathetic.
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This book won the National Book Award for Nonfiction, and for good reason. I consider this to be the best example of historical storytelling I've read. The first part of the book is a riveting, meticulously researched account of an incident between an angry white mob and black physician Ossian Sweet, who recently purchased a home in a white neighborhood in 1920's Detroit. The second part of the book details the ensuing trial, led by legendary trial attorney (and my idol) Clarence Darrow. The...more
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recommends it for:
detroit area residents
another book group choice. i feel naive that i didn't know that racial tensions in the city of Detroit went back to the 20s. this true tale of racial intolerance and housing segregation deepened my understanding of the issues which continue to face the D. The Ossian Sweet House still stands on the east side near where my grandmother's family used to reside. I drove by. When I finished the book and went to reread the quote in the front about the long arc of justice, I found the copy I was reading...more
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Read in June, 2007
recommends it for:
definitely
I learned that complex racism and the subsequent fallout from it was alive and well 60 years after the Emancipation Proclamation was signed. This is my city; and the experience of a hardworking, education-oriented Black man from a good family couldn't circumvent the organized racism in Detroit in 1928. It is the sad yet riveting story of blind hatred that finally leads to the demise of a hardworking, intelligent individual who had accomplished much in a short lifetime. The racism and hatred i...more
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Has a copy to sell/swap
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Read in March, 2005
I'm re-reading this book as a refresher for school. It's an interesting piece of historical writing that's hard to read fast because I tend to slow down and become absorbed in the story. The book describes the conflicts surrounding housing segregation in 1920's Detroit (or any northern post-great-migration city). It's a good example of how racial conflicts could spiral out of control, and how justice and the legal system in such cases is murky at best.
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Read in September, 2008
A great piece of history. This is the story of a little known (in our time) 'trial of the century.' Some of the characters went on to become prominent national figures, or already were. The racial history is important, especially in understading the modern city and its constituents. Detroit's race problem shows its roots in the story.
It reads more like a novel than a history book.
It reads more like a novel than a history book.
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Read in January, 2008
For anyone who likes historical novels this is an excellent novel. As an attorney this book was of particular interest to me as it details a murder trial in Detroit in the mid 1920s. The book also chronicles the rise of the NAACP, particularly the history making Legal Defense Fund. Really fascinating book and a must read for anyone who has followed the Civil Rights movement in the US.
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Amazing story about the struggles of an African American family in Michigan during the 1920s. When most people think about Civil Rights, they think of the 1950s and 1960s- this book opens ones eyes to the atrocities occurring against African Americans in 1920s America- The Roaring Twenties.
It's a true story - http://www.law.umkc.edu/facult...
It's a true story - http://www.law.umkc.edu/facult...
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Read in June, 2006
On my list of favorite history books because it blends gripping narrative with first-rate scholarship. The plot - about a black doctor who moves into a white Detroit neighborhood in 1925, the mob, gunshot and trial that ensues featuring Clarence Darrow (of the Scopes Monkey Trial) - is as engaging as any fiction (and I might argue more so, because it all actually happened).
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