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Terror in the City of Champions: Murder, Baseball, and the Secret Society That Shocked Depression-Era Detroit

Tom Stanton (Goodreads Author)

3.72 · Rating details · 705 ratings · 125 reviews

A New York Times Bestseller Foreword Reviews' INDIEFAB Book of the Year Winner in True Crime -Selected as one of "2016's Great Reads" by NPR -Finalist for the 2016 CASEY Award for Best Baseball Book of the Year -An unforgettable cauldron of history, crime, race, and sports Now in paperback comes the critically acclaimed New York Times Bestseller about a championship city h ...more

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Published August 1st 2017 by Lyons Press (first published June 1st 2016)

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Start your review of Terror in the City of Champions: Murder, Baseball, and the Secret Society That Shocked Depression-Era Detroit

Jul 20, 2019 Brina rated it liked it · review of another edition

Shelves: baseball, crime, history, detroit

Hank Greenberg is one of my all time favorite non Cubs baseball players, so when I noticed a book featuring the 1930s era Detroit Tigers at my library, I was intrigued. Detroit area writer Tom Stanton had heard older family members mention a part terrorist group part gangster network based near Detroit during the same era, yet had heard nothing about the group growing up or in school. The presence of this group during America’s low point in history moved him to investigate. The fact that they op Hank Greenberg is one of my all time favorite non Cubs baseball players, so when I noticed a book featuring the 1930s era Detroit Tigers at my library, I was intrigued. Detroit area writer Tom Stanton had heard older family members mention a part terrorist group part gangster network based near Detroit during the same era, yet had heard nothing about the group growing up or in school. The presence of this group during America’s low point in history moved him to investigate. The fact that they operated concurrently to when Detroit’s athletic teams held championship titles in every major sport got Stanton thinking that between the terrorist group and the sports championships he would have the basis for a fast paced book. Thus, the idea for Terror in the City of Champions had been planted, a hybrid sports and true crime book designed to shed light on Detroit during the height of the Depression.

During the 1935-36 sports cycle, Detroit found lightning in a bottle and held every major championship- baseball, football, hockey plus heavyweight boxing champion Joe Louis. That the football Lions won was a fluke as they clearly were not the best team that year; however, in 1935 it was evident that the Detroit Tigers were the best team in the American League. Bested in a seven game World Series the year before, the Tigers returned all their key players including player-manager Mickey Cochrane, second baseman Charlie Gehringer, pitcher Schoolboy Rowe, and first baseman and eventual league most valuable player Hank Greenberg. Co-owner Frank Navin was praying to see at least one championship during his lifetime, something that eluded even the teams lead by the great Ty Cobb. The Tigers started out on fire and would eventually capture the pennant and the hearts of the city. While the Tigers were out winning ball games, another clandestine group was instilling fear into the minds of working class Detroit.

The Black Legion had been the brainchild of former Klansman Bert Effinger. In his mutual hatred of Blacks, Jews, and Catholics, he was determined to rid the world of all of them and take over the federal government in the process. With a gunpoint oath and initiation ceremony and the promise of beatings and floggings if members missed meetings, the Black Legion recruited thousands of unsuspecting white, Protestant members. Boasting membership in the upward of three million people, the Legion would systematically murder black and catholic good standing citizens just to do it. Because lawmakers at all levels of society were either Legion members or supported their belief system, the group was given free reign to operate. With murders being cited as suicide and closed cases, especially with the murder of black citizens, law enforcement not in the ranks of Legion were unable to rid society of this menace. Effinger’s grandiose plans included a takeover of the federal government, which he believed orchestrated the depression for its own communist gains. His rhetoric hit a nerve with out of work white workers, and, unless federal agents not in the pockets of the Legion could prove that these plans were legit, Effinger was determined to follow through with them.

Ironically, the Legion were still big baseball fans and many members supported the Tigers during their championship season. Although they may have taunted Hank Greenberg with anti-Semitic slurs, Legion members largely left him alone because he was a member of the Tigers. Other Jews, the Legion plotted to douse synagogues with cyanide gas, but, thankfully, that plot had been uncovered. Likewise, the Legion as a whole may not have liked that Joe Louis was black, but because he won a boxing title and brought glory to Detroit, the group looked the other way, although it appears as though the Legion detested blacks even more than they did Jews or Catholics. Louis might have been unaware of the Legion’s operations; it is tough to surmise from these pages. He won overwhelming victories and brought glory to black Detroit and became a champion of champions. Tigers manager Mickey Cochrane, on the other hand, did not fare as well as Louis. As one of Detroit’s well to do citizens, some of his associates may have assisted the Legion in their operations. Cochrane feared the Legion and suffered a nervous breakdown midway through the 1936 season, putting a damper on the championship from the year before. With even athletes and other upwardly standing citizens not immune to the Legion’s psychological scheming, it is no telling how far the group would go before a government takeover was imminent.

Tom Stanton himself had not heard of the Black Legion; an uncle mentioned it to him once, and he was intrigued to research the group for this book. All the key players in this story have long been deceased but Stanton has been able to piece together the Legion’s operations and was alarmed at how far reaching the group became. He either did not have enough information to write a book strictly about the Legion, or he wanted to contrast the group with the glory of Detroit’s four champions in the 1935-36 sports cycle; that remains to be seen. With so many facets of this story, at times it became hard to follow because there were too many key players in it. As a result, what could have been a fast moving true crime story fell a little flat. I did enjoy the sections on Joe Louis and Tigers but felt that even those could have been more detailed; for more information on those sports stories there will have to be another book at another time. It is apparent that Tom Stanton has pride in the Detroit community where he has lived his entire life. Terror in the City of Champions pays homage to the history of that community, and with a little fine tuning could have been an epic story.

3+ stars ...more

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Sep 24, 2017 Dan rated it it was amazing · review of another edition

Shelves: baseball

Terror in the City of Champions is an excellent piece of historical/journalistic investigation. It is set in Detroit in the period of 1933-1936. Detroit was an amazing contrast in wealth and poverty. This is a city that came out of the Great Depression in better economic shape than perhaps any other city in the U.S. However the rapid change in demographics, recent immigration and the increased unemployment created a city ripe for all kinds of class and racial problems.

The primary thread in the Terror in the City of Champions is an excellent piece of historical/journalistic investigation. It is set in Detroit in the period of 1933-1936. Detroit was an amazing contrast in wealth and poverty. This is a city that came out of the Great Depression in better economic shape than perhaps any other city in the U.S. However the rapid change in demographics, recent immigration and the increased unemployment created a city ripe for all kinds of class and racial problems.

The primary thread in the book reveals the story of the Black Legion. The Black Legion was a secretive and murderous white nationalist organization with thousands of members in southeast Michigan and northern Ohio during the early 1930's with one historian estimating membership at 135,000 in the Midwest. The Legion was embedded within police departments, Ford Motor Company, mayor's offices to such an extent that the overwhelming majority of 50 murders linked to the Legion were never prosecuted. The author presents some limited evidence indicating the reason that J. Edgar Hoover repeatedly declined to investigate was to avoid this issue rising to the national level and creating undue pressure on southern Democrats who were linked with the KKK where similar tactics were being used.

This was the same period and city where Father Coughlin and Henry Ford were routinely spouting anti-semitic and racist beliefs and where the mob was active. The author includes these threads as supporting rationale for the systematic racism and the authorities' reluctance to throw the book at the masterminds behind the murder plots. There were some 11 members convicted of murder and 37 convicted of other related crimes. Membership declined dramatically when the court cases were covered by the press.

The parallel thread to the Black Legion story is sports related. In 1935 the Detroit Tigers and Detroit Lions won their first world championships and the following spring (1935-1936 season) the Detroit Red Wings won their first Stanley Cup. Detroit was coined the City of Champions by the national press. This is the only time in the history of the four major sports in America that teams from one city have ever held three titles simultaneously! The story also follows Joe Louis who became AP's Athlete of the Year in 1935 and won the world title in 1937 over Braddock.

Tom Stanton is a journalist so the pace moves pretty fast, or well very fast. A lot of comparisons have been made between this book and Erik Larson's style because of the multiple parallel threads and the obvious use of the city as the backdrop of some heinous crimes. This book is more dense with facts, including sports figures and many locations that only a local might be familiar with and is a little choppy at times. That is my only reservation with the book but I grew up here so I appreciate all good books set in Michigan

Stanton spent 10 years researching and writing the book and the detail shows. For what it's worth, I think a more apt title for the book might have been Detroit 1935 but I guess terror sells. ...more

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Apr 06, 2016 Brandon rated it liked it · review of another edition

Shelves: ebook, non-fiction, arc-reviews, 2016

The mid-1930s were banner years for the city of Detroit’s unrivaled sports scene. In late 1934, the Tigers won the pennant. Just seven months later, the Red Wings took home the Stanley Cup and the Lions sat atop the National Football League. And it wasn’t just team sports that dominated. Hometown hero Joe Louis had his sights set on his boxing’s crown.

All this success managed to awaken the city from a depression-induced slumber. However, beneath all the championships and celebration, an undergro The mid-1930s were banner years for the city of Detroit’s unrivaled sports scene. In late 1934, the Tigers won the pennant. Just seven months later, the Red Wings took home the Stanley Cup and the Lions sat atop the National Football League. And it wasn’t just team sports that dominated. Hometown hero Joe Louis had his sights set on his boxing’s crown.

All this success managed to awaken the city from a depression-induced slumber. However, beneath all the championships and celebration, an underground society began to form. A white supremacist group that splintered from The Ku Klux Klan, The Black Legion terrorized the streets of The Motor City during the 1930s. Now, author Tom Stanton weaves together both the pride and the embarrassment of Detroit in one sweeping book, Terror in the City of Champions.

I received a free copy from the publisher in exchange for a review.

Stanton’s book was shocking to read, to say the least. The story of how The Black Legion rose to prominence was alarming. Basically, prospective members were invited to mysterious meetings only to find out they were tricked into an initiation to The Black Legion, a hate-driven, racist organization. They were then told that they were now members without choice and if they were to betray their new brotherhood, they would be killed. Obviously, not all members were innocent, but this practice was the key in how they were able to grow their numbers so quickly.

The other side to the book detailed the Detroit Tigers and their rise to World Series Champions. Honestly, I found this to be the duller of the two stories and at times found myself drifting off, waiting to read more about the murder and madness that surrounded the Legion. It’s not to say that Stanton did a bad job in presenting the sports aspect, the material was concise and the narrative easy to follow, it just didn’t grab me in the same way.

If you’re a fan of the “Eric Larson” style of historical presentation, I think you’ll at the very least find this an interesting read. I wouldn’t put it on the same level as Larson, but it’s worth a look. ...more

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Jan 07, 2021 SuperWendy rated it it was ok · review of another edition

Shelves: audio

Well this was disappointing. This reads like a series of vignettes - jumping from the Tigers (lengthy descriptions of games in some instances), the Black Legion, the Lions, Red Wings, Joe Louis and back around again. It reads like a "day in the life" (or 2 year period in the life in this case) of the city of Detroit. Which means it's not very satisfying depending on what you're interested in. The crime reader and Detroit Tigers fan in me was largely bored. The author should have picked one subje ...more

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Dec 01, 2017 Molly rated it it was ok · review of another edition

Lordy, what a hot mess of a book.
You'd think from its title that this book would be about a secret society in which many Detroit baseball players were active. Nope. Or even a murder related to Detroit baseball. Nope.
This book goes back and forth between very detailed Detroit Tiger games, less detailed Joe Louis fights, some Red Wings hockey, Lions football gets mentioned AND a KKK style gang (the Black Legion) PLUS local politics of the metro Detroit area. Way too much ground to attempt to cov ...more

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Jul 19, 2016 Nancy rated it it was amazing · review of another edition

Terror in the City of Champions: Murder, Baseball, and the Secret Society that Shocked Depression-Era Detroit by Tom Stanton is a thrilling and terrifying read.

Stanton begins his narrative in 1933 as Frank Navin signs Mickey Cochrane in hope that his Tigers would finally win a championship under his watch. At the same time a series of unsolved murders in the Detroit area were ruled suicides. Stanton weaves the narrative thread of winning teams and murderous mayhem through 1936 when the Black Leg Terror in the City of Champions: Murder, Baseball, and the Secret Society that Shocked Depression-Era Detroit by Tom Stanton is a thrilling and terrifying read.

Stanton begins his narrative in 1933 as Frank Navin signs Mickey Cochrane in hope that his Tigers would finally win a championship under his watch. At the same time a series of unsolved murders in the Detroit area were ruled suicides. Stanton weaves the narrative thread of winning teams and murderous mayhem through 1936 when the Black Legion was finally identified.

Detroit became the "City of Champions" when wins by the Tigers, Redwings, the Lions, and Joe Louis brought together a city crushed by the Depression.

Detroit was also the 'automotive capital of the world', attracting workers from the South to factory jobs. The largest Catholic congregation met in the Shrine of the Little Flower in Royal Oak, MI, now a national shrine. When it burned down in 1935 controversial Father Coughlin rebuilt it with money contributed by his radio followers. He preached a mixture of worker's rights, government control of railroads and major industries, Antisemitism, and he supported some Fascist policies. President Roosevelt finally shut his radio station down in 1939.

It was also a time when the Black Legion's reign of terror pressed men into membership on threat of death, flogged or executed backsliders, and assigned hit men to kill targeted 'enemies' of America: Catholics, Jews, Socialists, Communists, African Americans, liberal lawyers and newsmen. The leaders' ultimate goal was to depose President Roosevelt and take over the American government--to save it from Communism.

Reading about the Black Legion carrying out their meetings and activities in locales known to me was sickening. The group grew out of the ashes of the KKK. Men were invited to a club or gathering, but when they discovered what was really going on it was too late to back out. Pledges were signed at gunpoint and members given a bullet to remind them that betrayal meant death. It was a reign of terror. Bigwigs ordered regular 'joes' to carry out abductions and executions. At least one African American man was murdered just for sport.

Membership climbed into the tens of thousands across the Midwest, reaching into the ranks of police, courts, and elected officials. It was said all of Oakland County's government were members! I live in Oakland County!

When Captain Marmon came from Lansing to investigate he soon announced the Black Legion was responsible for at least 50 Michigan deaths. Old cases were reexamined; murders had been ruled as suicides. But his investigations were stymied. Cover-ups prevented following through on leads. J. Edgar Hoover ignored demands for action. The Ford Motor Company would not allow permission for the police to drain Ford Mill Pond, said to hold bodies. Major-General Bert Effinger of the Black Legion lived in Lima, Ohio. The local police would not execute a search warrant on his house. Effinger went missing.

Had it not been for a Legion member's confessions and telling police of activities and crimes no one would have been brought to justice. The downfall of the Black Legion was a relief for thousands who spent every day in fear.

I am not a sports fan myself but my limited knowledge did not prevent me from appreciating, or following, the book's saga of the Tigers. I now know who Schoolhouse Rowe, Hank Greenberg, Micky Cochrane, and Frank Navin are! I proudly can say I now know why Navin Field is important to my acquaintance who is involved in vintage baseball played there and why the Navin Field Grounds Crew are fighting the installation of artificial turf on the field. I do love when history books make one understand and appreciate the present! Stanton is able to bring these men to life.

This multi-layered book offers a full picture of Depression Era Detroit. It has always been a complicated city.

I received a free ebook from the publisher through NetGalley in exchange for a fair and unbiased review.
...more

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Feb 05, 2016 Heather rated it it was ok · review of another edition

Shelves: netgalley

This book just didn't click for me. I thought the narrative flow was kind of confusing, especially when jumping between subjects. I also thought that it was hard to keep track of people. It would have been easier to follow and more engrossing if Stanton had picked just a few people and told their stories and left the others out.

**I received this copy via NetGalley in exchange for an honest review** ...more

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Feb 10, 2016 Margaret Sankey rated it liked it · review of another edition

Erik Larson-style strikes again! Stanton attempts to intertwine two stories--the 1933 Detroit Tigers, with the rise and fall of a particularly virulent Klan variant, the Black Legion. This is popular history of the this happened and then this happened and then some other stuff happened, with the cast of hundreds introduced every time with full biographies and lacking any real analysis. Detroit in the 1930s is fascinating, but not frog marched to the two narratives Stanton wants to tell.

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Dec 03, 2019 Anup Sinha rated it it was amazing · review of another edition

This was an outstanding book and right up my alley as a huge Detroit sports fan and as one who is also interested in the city's history. Tom Stanton is also in both categories, but to the extreme, and he is also an excellent, professional writer. The research is extraordinary, I don't know how he got so much detail about the Black Legion and their activities.

I really felt like I was in the 1930s Detroit and I enjoyed driving past many of the same landmarks 85 years later while reading this book. ...more

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Apr 15, 2016 Edwin Howard rated it it was amazing · review of another edition

TERROR IN THE CITY OF CHAMPIONS by Tom Stanton recounts Detroit as the city of champions, with three major sports (baseball, football and hockey) having championships in 1935, while in the shadows of the city during the same time, a ruthless, violent organization know as the Black Legion, was thriving and terrorizing the entire North Michigan region.
As a Detroit Tigers fan myself, I'll admit a special draw this book and perhaps I will also carry a bit of a bias in how much I enjoyed this book. TERROR IN THE CITY OF CHAMPIONS by Tom Stanton recounts Detroit as the city of champions, with three major sports (baseball, football and hockey) having championships in 1935, while in the shadows of the city during the same time, a ruthless, violent organization know as the Black Legion, was thriving and terrorizing the entire North Michigan region.
As a Detroit Tigers fan myself, I'll admit a special draw this book and perhaps I will also carry a bit of a bias in how much I enjoyed this book. Stanton approaches the study of this time in three ways: He looks at the sports teams, particularly the Tigers, and how they became the champions, from putting the right puzzle pieces together, to overcoming obstacles and finally to reaching the pinnacle of their respective leagues. Stanton also delves deeply into the beginnings of the Black Legion, how they recruited, who the identified leaders were, and recreated many of their crimes. The third facet of the book was how the sports champions and at the same time the Black Legion was woven into the culture of Detroit, and to a degree the rest of the country, in the 1930's.
Stanton detailed many of the Detroit Tigers during the time and a natural desire for them to succeed comes forth. It seems likes Stanton has a sweet spot for Mickey Cochrane, the catcher/manager of the 1935 teams and rightfully so, because he was a key figure for the Tigers due to his dual participation. In the end there is a sadness to see his decline after all time and effort he put into making the Tigers champions.
Stanton recreation of Black Legion events and actions are written so well that you forget that he wasn't there and that he used multiple sources to cobble together his best estimate as to what really happened. I also like how Stanton made a point of considering not just the leaders and members of the Black Legion that were dedicated to the cause, but he also looked at the reluctant participant, many of them who waffled and questioned their participation in such a scandalous and criminal group.
I would definitely recommend this book to fans of Detroit sports and readers of historical prominence. Also, if I ever travel to Detroit, I hope to have time to explore some of the city where a lot of the book takes place, especially the field where Tigers Stadium used to be.
Thank you to Rowman & Littlefield, Lyons Press, Tom Stanton, and Netgalley for a copy of this book in exchange for an honest review! ...more

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Mar 22, 2016 Sean Kottke rated it it was amazing · review of another edition

Shelves: 2016, michigan-books

**I received a digital copy via NetGalley in exchange for an honest review**

Tom Stanton's latest is a perfect complement to his canon of baseball journalism and Detroit tales. Launching from a brief slice of the 1930s when all of Detroit's professional sports teams - as well as Joe Louis in the boxing ring - pursued world championships, the book reads like a non-fiction Motor City Ragtime as it presents the intertwining lives of famous, infamous and everyday Michiganders at a pivotal moment in h ...more

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May 03, 2018 Christopher Saunders rated it liked it · review of another edition

Shelves: new-deal-project, 2018-reads, 2019-reads

Terror in the City of Champions is one of those bifurcated Erik Larson-style popular histories that tries using parallel storylines to capture an historical era. In this case it's Depression-era Detroit, with Stanton (a veteran sportswriter) comparing the city's sports successes in that era with the dark reign of the Black Legion, a KKK splinter group who terrorized immigrants, Jews, Catholics, blacks and leftists in 1930s Michigan. It's an odd juxtaposition of subjects, not least because they i ...more

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Aug 31, 2019 Michael Ferguson rated it it was amazing · review of another edition

Very well-written book. Stanton is an obviously talented writer on a technical level, and nearly all of the strings of the plot are presented in a manner which demands interest. The central complaint among most reviewers, that the narrative is too multifaceted and fast-paced to be grasped, is short-sighted and mostly unfounded. Though Stanton does present literally dozens of characters in the various plotlines, he does so in order to establish wider themes. The point is not for the reader to rem ...more

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Sep 01, 2018 Tom Gase rated it liked it · review of another edition

This was a decent book by Tom Stanton but at times it felt like two completely different stories that was kind of forced into being one. On one hand you have Stanton's great writing and research on the 1934-1936 Detroit Tigers, along with info on boxer Joe Louis, the 1935 Detroit Red Wings and 1935 Detroit Lions. Don't let the book title fool you though, Stanton spends a great deal of this book discussing the Tigers and not much time dedicated to the other Detroit teams. When he isn't discussing ...more

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Jan 31, 2020 Aaron Sinner rated it liked it · review of another edition

Shelves: baseball

2016 CASEY Award nominee
2017 Seymour Medal finalist
NPR’s "2016 Great Reads"

Briefly: Compelling history

Terror in the City of Champions offers a tour of major events in mid-1930s Detroit, focusing on the success of its sports icons and on the unmasking of a secret society. Both storylines make for compelling, page-turning reading. Unfortunately, the two storylines are almost entirely unrelated, so that the book reads as two separate narratives told in parallel. Despite some tonal suggestions that ...more

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Sep 13, 2020 Steve Rice rated it really liked it · review of another edition

A good historical book on when the Black Legion grew to influence in Detroit in the mid 30’s. The book flips back and forth between the Tigers/Red Wings/Lions championship season of 1935 and the growth and influence of the Legion. Although I’m a Detroit sports fan, I found the narrative on the Legion to be more compelling.

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Jul 01, 2020 Kristy rated it really liked it · review of another edition

Fascinating story especially if you're from Detroit and have interests in history, sports - particularly the Detroit Tigers - and insane murders by the terrorist group the Black Legion. I enjoyed the story following along both stories as they progressed along the same timeline - one exciting and one truly frightening. ...more

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May 16, 2016 Shay Caroline rated it really liked it · review of another edition

Shelves: true-crime, history, baseball

Imagine an America just starting to right itself after an economic calamity. Imagine a changing America where racial and religious resentment lead to a sometimes polarized society, whipped up further by demagogues and religious media stars. Imagine "a low type of mentality, men easily incited by mob psychology, who have taken a silly pledge and gone through a crazy ritual apparently created by a fanatic who seeks power."

Imagine, too, politicians and police who often place political gain or pers Imagine an America just starting to right itself after an economic calamity. Imagine a changing America where racial and religious resentment lead to a sometimes polarized society, whipped up further by demagogues and religious media stars. Imagine "a low type of mentality, men easily incited by mob psychology, who have taken a silly pledge and gone through a crazy ritual apparently created by a fanatic who seeks power."

Imagine, too, politicians and police who often place political gain or personal prejudice above the common good. Imagine further a sports-crazed America, in love with the champions of professional baseball, football, hockey and boxing. Imagine Detroit in the mid-193os, a place amazingly similar in many ways to America in 2016.

"Detroit the Dynamic" was home, of course, to the mighty American auto industry, the 1935 Champion Detroit Tigers in baseball, the Lions in football, and the Red Wings in hockey, a major sports trifecta that no other city has ever matched, making Detroit truly "The City of Champions." Add to that, Detroit native Joe Louis' rise to the ranks of the boxing elite.

However, Detroit was also home to the notorious Purple Gang, and to the secret and sinister Black Legion, a Klan-like organization that draped itself in flag-waving, Constitution-spouting patriotism, but who terrorized and murdered people simply for being black, or Catholic, or leftist.

Author Tom Stanton brings the long-ago streets of Detroit to life again, along with the outsized personalities of Tiger player-manager Mickey "Black Mike" Cochrane, his Jewish star player Hank Greenberg, Catholic radio priest Father Coughlin who drifted from bible lessons to antisemitic diatribes before being shut down by his Bishop, and the strangely disinterested FBI director J. Edgar Hoover. Stanton also brings to life the mean, violent, racist members of the black-robed Black Legion and the people they harassed, bombed, shot and sabotaged.

From the bright sunshine of Navin Field and the World Series (What exactly DID happen to star pitcher "Schoolboy" Rowe's hand that caused him to lose to the Cardinals in the 1934 World Series? What led to Cochrane's nervous breakdown in June of 1936?) to the shadowy clandestine meetings of the Black Legion, to the offices of the three major Detroit dailies and the halls of government and justice, this is a truly a tour through one American city's best of times and worst of times. What really struck me the most is how little people and institutions have changed since then. Highly recommended. ...more

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Nov 15, 2016 Jill Hutchinson rated it it was amazing · review of another edition

Shelves: american-history

Being a history buff and a sports fan made me grab this book from the library shelf and I was not disappointed. I loved it........the style is reminiscent of that of Erik Larson, concentrating on two disparate subjects in one book and making it work. It is all tied together by Detroit, a once thriving city that was crushed by the Great Depression and was struggling to survive. Baseball was a positive force for the people of the city who were hoping for a championship or at least a winning season ...more

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Jun 01, 2016 Casey Wheeler rated it really liked it · review of another edition

Shelves: nonfiction, us-history, history, net-galley, baseball

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 ...more

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Sep 21, 2016 Chris Dean rated it it was amazing · review of another edition

Excellent book on an otherwise forgotten time in the history of Detroit. The emphasis is mainly on the Black Legion while the city's sports developments serving as a backdrop. While the contrasts show the differences in human nature during the Depression, the lures of the Black Legion and what made them a force can be seen as a cautionary tale for modern times. Highly recommended, another A+ work from Stanton. ...more

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Jun 07, 2018 Brad Hodges rated it liked it · review of another edition

I grew up in Michigan, as did my dad, my mom, and both sets of grandparents either were born there or spent many years there. Yet I'd never heard of the Black Legion, a kind of Klan knock-off, that murdered several people during the 1930s in the Detroit area. Tom Stanton writes about them in Terror in the City of Champions: Murder, Baseball, and the Secret Society that Shocked Depression Era Detroit.

I did know about the Detroit Tigers of the '30s, who won two pennants and one world championship, I grew up in Michigan, as did my dad, my mom, and both sets of grandparents either were born there or spent many years there. Yet I'd never heard of the Black Legion, a kind of Klan knock-off, that murdered several people during the 1930s in the Detroit area. Tom Stanton writes about them in Terror in the City of Champions: Murder, Baseball, and the Secret Society that Shocked Depression Era Detroit.

I did know about the Detroit Tigers of the '30s, who won two pennants and one world championship, their first ever (they only have four total in almost 120 years). Erik Larson, with his book The Devil in the White City, kind of invented, or at least made popular, the juxtaposition of two stories linked by geography or something else. Sometimes, like with that book, it works. Stanton's book, while he covers both subjects well, can't convince that they had anything to do with each other except it was Detroit.

"Within a six-month period in 1935 and 1936, the Tigers, Red Wings, and Lions all captured titles as Detroit’s own Joe Louis reigned as boxing’s uncrowned champion. Detroit remains the only city to score the trifecta of a
World Series, a Stanley Cup, and an NFL championship in one season." Stanton (who wrote a fine book called The Final Season about the last Tiger campaign in Tiger Stadium) knows his baseball. He begins with the arrival of Mickey Cochrane, who had been a star catcher for Connie Mack's A's during their three straight World Series wins. Cochrane was hired by Tiger Owner Frank Navin to be player-manager. Cochrane is the through-line in this story. He was surprisingly sophisticated, loved to fly airplanes, but was also riddled with anxiety.

"By mid-1934 the legion had expanded in southeast Michigan to four regiments of 1,600 men in Detroit, one regiment in Highland Park, one in the downriver area south of the Ford Rouge plant, two farther south near Monroe, two north of Detroit in Pontiac, one or two in Flint, one in Saginaw, and possibly others. There were regiments in Ohio, Indiana, and Illinois as well." The Klu Klux Klan had flourished in Michigan in the '20s, but faded out, but the sentiments remained. A new organization started up, based on nativism. They were anti-Black, anti-Catholic, anti-Jewish, and anti-leftist. Men would be invited to a gathering and forced to swear an oath at gunpoint. Though Stanton's description of most of then make them sound hapless, like the guys who know tote around machine guns at the CVS, they were deadly. In Lansing, it was thought that Earl Little, father of Malcolm X, was murdered by the legion. Two of them killed a black man just because he was black.

Stanton alternates between these two stories, touching somewhat on Louis, who was antithesis of Jack Johnson and thus acceptable to white fans, and very briefly mentioning the Lions and Red Wings. I would have liked more about them, especially since the games are so much different now than then (no one wore helmets in hockey, and it football they were leather). I was interested to learn that the Red Wings had no American players--they were all Canadian, except for one Englishman.

The main thread through the Black Legion story is Dayton Dean, who was eager to prove his mettle and accepted many assignments to kill people, such as the mayor of Highland Park. Perhaps because of feet of clay, he never did, not until he and Harvey Davis killed Charlie Poole for erroneously believing he beat his wife (he was murdered in Dearborn, my home town. Why didn't I ever hear of this?) This murder finally brought the law down on the Legion, who had escaped punishment because it was thought many police and judges were members. The prosecutor of the case against Dean and Davis was an ex-member himself.

There's no telling how many people they killed--a sink-hole was rumored to contain at least seven bodies. The Legion faded away, but the racial attitudes remained. A popular clergyman, Father Coughlin, held sway on the airwaves with anti-Semitic rhetoric, aimed at keeping America out of the war in Europe. All of this went away after Pearl Harbor.

As for the Tigers, they won the pennant in '34 but lost to the Cardinals in a seven-game series (they just couldn't hit Dizzy Dean or or his brother Paul). They came back in '35 to beat the Cubs in the series. In addition to Cochrane, they had three other Hall of Famers on the squad--Hank Greenberg, Charlie Gehringer (I'm a distant relative of his), and Goose Goslin. The city was ecstatic about the victory. They were tough times in Detroit: "The Great Depression had devastated the whole nation, but Detroit had suffered more than most. The year had brought bank panics and closures, unemployment of 45 percent, winding food lines, burgeoning public-relief rolls, and severe wage cuts for surviving auto workers. Car sales fell by four million units between 1929 and 1932. Almost half the city’s population qualified for assistance, limited as it was." But the stands were packed for the World Series.

To fully enjoy this book you have to be a sports fan (preferably for Detroit teams) and a true crime buff, especially about secret societies. I enjoyed the book moderately, feeling Stanton straining at times for metaphors ("Rumors of trades swirled around Walker like Kansas twisters.") and relying on old-time sports reporting styles that went out with the transistor. I think his biggest success is giving the reader a very good insight into what living in Detroit during that time period was like. ...more

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Aug 17, 2017 Ted rated it it was ok · review of another edition

Though Stanton is a very good writer and a stellar historian of the Detroit Tigers, the plot lines of this book seemed to be only parallel stories and not connected to one another. It's an interesting period in Detroit's history, one I was unaware of, and the parallel stories each pulled me along, but I kept looking for connections that really weren't there. ...more

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May 13, 2016 Beth rated it it was amazing · review of another edition

I thoroughly enjoyed the history and the suspense of this true story. Pretty incredible. I love the way this author writes.

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Jul 24, 2017 Zackery Finn rated it it was ok · review of another edition

Enjoyed learning more history about my fair city of Detroit, but would have preferred more attention and greater depth on the Black Legion and far less (ideally no) talk about sports.

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Nov 26, 2018 Cropredy rated it liked it · review of another edition

Shelves: history

As I was a Michigan resident during my formative years through university, this book had an added dollop of interest to my normal inclination to things historical, especially to areas I knew nothing about.

And those areas? the two main threads of this book - the Detroit sports teams (plus Joe Louis - boxer) of 1934-5 and their winning ways and the Black Legion - a sort of protestant white nationalist terror group somewhat akin to the Ku Klux Klan that was centered in the midwest.

I have to admit t ...more

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Mar 04, 2018 Kersten rated it really liked it · review of another edition

This non-fiction book was chosen for my book club book. It is not something I would have chosen. However, I really was so intrigued by it and learned so much about the local history of Detroit and really within our country. (I live in Midland, MI, about 2 hr north of Detroit). There is a lot of name/place dropping and the book is very well researched. However, because of all the name dropping, I almost wish they would have indexed all the people. (Not quite Game of Thrones list, but extensive). ...more

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Jun 16, 2017 Elizabeth rated it liked it · review of another edition

Shelves: non-fiction, 2017-reads, baseball, reading-challenge-2017

In the 1930's thousands of white men across Ohio, Michigan, Illinois, and Indiana joined the Black Legion, a secret vigilante terrorist group of white supremacists. They were highly active in Michigan, and it is widely speculated that there were hundreds of members in positions of influence within government, law enforcement, and businesses like the Ford Motor Company.
Author Tom Stanton does an incredibly detailed look at the history of this group, detailing their crimes and suspected crimes. I ...more

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May 06, 2017 SKBrody rated it liked it · review of another edition

Quite an interesting read. Stanton does a terrific job in writing about the professional sports teams of the mid-1930's Detroit and paralleling it against an underlying criminal element that plagued the City and surrounding area during the same period.

I was not familiar with the Black Legion prior to reading this book and was taken aback once learning about it. At first I thought this was a murder mystery with the Detroit sports teams, mostly the Tigers, as a backdrop but quickly realized that ...more

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Jan 05, 2017 Jeff Koslowski rated it liked it · review of another edition

If you like the mid-1930's Detroit Tigers, it's a solid book but the issue I had was that this was to be about Detroit as the "City of Champions." The Red Wings and Lions, both champions during the same season, received almost two chapters while the Tigers received about half the entire book. I know baseball is the author's strength but if you're going to include the City of Champions in the title, there should be a little more balance.

The other issue I had with the balance was in reference to ...more

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About Tom Stanton

Tom Stanton

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Dear Readers:

I feel fortunate to have been writing professionally since age 18, beginning back in the final year of Jimmy Carter's presidency, when I sported a poorly executed, Peter Frampton-inspired perm. Decades on, my hair is gone, but writing remains central to my life. I've been a reporter, editor, publisher and, more recently, an author and journalism professor (Go University of Detroit Me ...more

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“Within a six-month period in 1935 and 1936, the Tigers, Red Wings, and Lions all captured titles as Detroit’s own Joe Louis reigned as boxing’s uncrowned champion. Detroit remains the only city to score the trifecta of a World Series, a Stanley Cup, and an NFL championship in one season.” — 0 likes

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