Black Bottom Saints

by Alice Randall

An enthralling literary tour-de-force that pays tribute to Detroit's legendary neighborhood, a mecca for jazz, sports, and politics, Black Bottom Saints is a powerful blend of fact and imagination reminiscent of E.L. Doctorow's classic novel Ragtime and Marlon James' Man Booker Award-winning masterpiece, A Brief History of Seven Killings.

From the Great Depression through the post-World War II years, Joseph “Ziggy” Johnson, has been the pulse of Detroit’s famous Black Bottom. A celebrated gossip columnist for the city’s African-American newspaper, the Michigan Chronicle, he is also the emcee of one of the hottest night clubs, where he’s rubbed elbows with the legendary black artists of the era, including Ethel Waters, Billy Eckstein, and Count Basie. Ziggy is also the founder and dean of the Ziggy Johnson School of Theater. But now the doyen of Black Bottom is ready to hang up his many dapper hats.  

As he lays dying in the black-owned-and-operated Kirkwood Hospital, Ziggy reflects on his life, the community that was the center of his world, and the remarkable people who helped shape it.

Inspired by the Catholic Saints Day Books, Ziggy curates his own list of Black Bottom’s venerable "52 Saints." Among them are a vulnerable Dinah Washington, a defiant Joe Louis, and a raucous Bricktop. Randall balances the stories of these larger-than-life "Saints" with local heroes who became household names, enthralling men and women whose unstoppable ambition, love of style, and faith in community made this black Midwestern neighborhood the rival of New York City’s Harlem.

Accompanying these “tributes” are thoughtfully paired cocktails—special drinks that capture the essence of each of Ziggy’s saints—libations as strong and satisfying as Alice Randall’s wholly original view of a place and time unlike any other.

Genres: Historical Fiction, Fiction, Historical, African American, Book Club, Literary Fiction, Music

384 pages, Hardcover

First published August 18, 2020

About the author

Alice Randall (born Detroit, Michigan) is an American author and songwriter. Randall grew up in Washington, D.C.. She attended Harvard University, where she earned an honors degree in English and American literature, before moving to Nashville in 1983 to become a country songwriter. She currently lives in Nashville, Tennessee and is married to attorney David Ewing.

Randall is the first African American woman to write a number one country hit. Over 20 of her songs have been recorded, including several top ten and top forty records; her songs have been performed by Trisha Yearwood and Mark O'Connor.

Randall is also a novelist, whose first novel The Wind Done Gone is a reinterpretation and parody of Gone with the Wind. The Wind Done Gone is essentially the same story as Gone with the Wind, only told from the viewpoint of Scarlett O'Hara's half-sister Cynara, a mulatto slave on Scarlett's plantation. The estate of Margaret Mitchell sued Randall and her publishing company, Houghton Mifflin, on the grounds that The Wind Done Gone was too similar to Gone with the Wind, thus infringing its copyright. The lawsuit was eventually settled, allowing The Wind Done Gone to be published. The novel became a New York Times bestseller.

Randall's second novel, Pushkin and the Queen of Spades, was named as one of The Washington Post's "Best fiction of 2004."

Reviews

[Henry CG · Rating 5 out of 5]

Black Bottom Saints is a most interesting and fascinating new novel from Alice Randall. This author and teacher is new to me, but I am a believer in her work, and I highly recommend reading Black Bottom Saints in the year 2020. Add this book to the stack of timely literature as it stands up with recent additions speaking about Black culture in the 20th century. What struck me most after finishing and reflecting on this book is that it is all at once a history lesson, eulogy, celebration, and obituary of the cultural epicenter, the eponymous Black Bottom, of Detroit in the mid-20th century. Told over the course of a year, each chapter representing one week’s passage of time, this book unfolds to reveal the most interesting and fascinating characters, as well as stories within stories. There are so many layers to this book, you will be engrossed throughout as you peel back the onion. This book is definitely a treat for those interested in contemporary history, but it also features a tender story about the relationship between the protagonist, Josephy “Ziggy” Johnson, a former dance-school instructor and Black Bottom historian, and a prized pupil, Mari, referred affectionately or instructively throughout as “Colored Girl”, which unfolds throughout each chapter. Ultimately, this book is a love song to a bygone era and long forgotten characters of the Black Bottom.

The language and the tone that Randall employs is utterly beautiful. She creates an wholly unique voice and cadence in the narrator of Ziggy. Each chapter unfurls a beautiful tapestry of interesting turns of phrase and vocabulary, forcing me to the dictionary multiple times. This is really a novel about people and characters, and Randall allows the poetry of her language to give these characters narratives color and depth that is breathtakingly memorable. Learning about these cultural icons is fascinating, but is only aided by the carefully chosen words and common descriptors that Randall employs throughout. It is reminiscent of sitting with a loved family member or neighbor while they regale you with stories from the past, some of which you might have heard, but are all too willing to hear again.

Ziggy becomes the caretaker of these narratives, the “unofficial” and self-proclaimed historian of the Black Bottom, canonizing his friends, family, and loved ones for all time. Ziggy himself is quite a character and he is the perfect docent to take the reader through this world because of his pure, genuine love and care for the people of the Black Bottom. His story parallels that of Mari, or Colored Girl, whom we get to see grow throughout the book. Additionally, each chapter features a cocktail pairing, which is such a fun summer treat and adds an additional layer of intrigue about the history of the era and the area, as these are actual cocktails devised by a Black Bottom mixologist. I am not a drinker, but I imagine making these drinks would be a fun summer, quarantine project.

**Spoiler Alert**: Stop reading here if you want to be surprised reading the book on your own.

Mari’s story parallels that of Ziggy so beautifully. There is a slight plot twist as we learn towards the end of the book that Mari is actually rewriting these chapters because Ziggy’s original manuscript has perished, along with Ziggy. Her rewriting of these tales highlights the importance and significance of local lore and the tradition of passing down stories about the traditions of a time and place between generations. Randall reminds us that story is a binding agent that holds societies, communities, and cultures together, and can be a uniting force. Books like Black Bottom Saints are important because they capture and preserve oral histories and memories of a place for future generations to have and cherish. I hope this is a book that preserves itself and has a long shelf life.

[Lorna · Rating 4 out of 5]

"Ask every person if he's heard the
story, and tell it strong and clear if he
has not, that once there was a fleeting
wisp of glory called Camelot."

And so the story of the Black Bottom Saints begins in 1961 with the final curtain at a showing of Camelot at the Majestic Theater on 44th Street. As Joseph "Ziggy" Johnson walked to his home-away-from home, the Hotel Theresa in Harlem, he found himself whistling the title tune and thinking about Detroit and his Black Bottom Saints and how they all needed their story told. Reflecting on his life beginning in Chicago's Bronzeville in 1913 he found that there was one place and one time that shined brighter than all of the rest and that was Detroit City, from 1937 to 1967. And this is their story.

"By the end of World War I, Black Bottom was estabished as a municipality (along with New York's Harlem and Chicago's Bronzeville) with a clear claim of being one of the three most economically, politically, and artistically powerful Black communities in America.

Black Bottom Saints was an historical fiction narrative meticulously researched by Alice Randall that kept me turning the pages as I learned about so many black people that shaped and were shaped by Black Bottom Detroit as well as famous entertainers, artists, musicians, sports stars, politicians and civil rights leaders.

"My Saints Day Book includes biographies, plus cocktails in celebration of the Saints, and provides recipes and instructions on how to make them. Regular Saints Day Books don't do a thing about helping you make a feast. They just tell you on what day to do it. I'm not telling you exactly on what day to have your cocktail--but I am instructing you exactly how to make it, thanks to one of my favorite Saints, Thomas Bullock."

[Jan · Rating 3 out of 5]

Modeled on the Catholic Lives of the Saints book, this work of historical fiction gives us individual portraits of the entertainers, athletes, and other leading lights and influencers in the thriving Black Bottom neighborhood of early and mid-20th century Detroit. I enjoyed the stories of Black excellence and the central character - the impresario, journalist and dance studio founder Ziggy Johnson - was a lovely creation. But with little or no overall storyline, the book had all the narrative tension of a set of baseball cards, and some of Randall's vocabulary choices were off-putting. The audiobook was downright maddening. It switched frequently between two narrators, and while Prentice Oneyemi was his usual superb self, the female narrator's performance was slow, flat and marred by a number of mispronunciations ("Ahmos and Andy"). And when I say "slow," I mean slow enough that I had to stop and adjust the listening speed each time the narrators passed the baton. :-(

[Monica **can't read fast enough** · Rating 3 out of 5]

I expected to enjoy Black Bottom Saints much more than I did and it's always hard for me to write a review of something that has left me luke warm. This is a steadily paced quick read that I could easily pick up and read chunks of in one sitting so it was a good choice for weekend reading. The bonus to this one is that there are plenty of cocktails recipes inside that I'd like to try out.


***Thank you to Amistad for sending me a copy of Black Bottom Saints in exchange for an honest review.***

Where you can find me:
•(♥).•*Monlatable Book Reviews*•.(♥)•
Twitter: @monicaisreading
Instagram: @readermonica
Goodreads Group: The Black Bookcase

[Barbara Monaghan · Rating 5 out of 5]

This book is simply stunning. It's the story of Joseph "Ziggy" Johnson a backbone of Detroit's Black Bottom district. Written from his deathbed Ziggy reflects on his life from the depression through WWII, when Detroit was the epicenter for Black music, entertainment, sports, and fashion. Interweaved through the novel are the tales of his goddaughter and her life with her difficult mother. The writing is phenomenal, the format so creative, and the characters are brilliant. I couldn't put it down, although I kept having to stop to do more research on the people in the novel.. It's historical fiction at it's finest. Oh, and the cocktail recipes alone are worth reading the book. Thank you so much @AmistadBooks for inviting me to read this wonderful book.

[Andre(Read-A-Lot) · Rating 5 out of 5]

A very inventive novel that is in part a biographical sketch of Ziggy Johnson and a historical look at Black Bottom Detroit, which is the name of Detroit’s Black community. The place that gave life and meaning to the many citizens and witnesses of the commercial and artistic center of Black Detroit. This is a crazy fun romp through Black Bottom and along the way you will meet recognizable figures like Joe Louis, Sammy Davis Jr., along with some unsung persons vividly brought to life by Alice Randall through vignettes with beautiful prose and cultural wisdom liberally sprinkled on the pages of this novel. There is much to learn here, and it is only with keeping the convention that I continue to refer to this invention as a novel, for that seems like a too tiny box for this enormous book.

So Ziggy decided on his deathbed to write a book of celebration to the many movers, shakers and makers of Black Bottom. These folks are in his eyes saints. So, much like the Catholic Saints’ Day Books, Ziggy crafts his Black Bottom Saints and that is the foundation of the book. It’s an excellent tale of a chocolate slice of a city that provided good, proud and productive Black folks that created a community that once rivaled New York’s Harlem. The history is abundant, the biographical vignettes rich and the fictional elements intricately woven blurring the lines separating it from fact, making this a must-read book. As a bonus, each Saint has a special libation complete with ingredients and mixing instructions. This book deserves a toast to the creativity of Alice Randall and the life of Ziggy Johnson for proving to be such a worthy muse.A great big thanks to Anna (Never without a book) for giving me her extra copy of the ARC. Check out her profile, she is a great resource and one of my best virtual book friends.

[Rachel · Rating 5 out of 5]

Black Bottom Saints by Alice Randall is an excellent collection of fascinating men and women that created a one-of-a-kind, memorable, and unique area of Detroit what it was during the particular period of 20th century. Here Ms. Randall creates a list of nationally well-known African Americans and locally “famous” individuals that helped shape this neighborhood into the timeless essence that it will always be.

I loved peaking into the lives of people that made a difference. Their lives are fascinating, intriguing, and awe-inspiring. I loved the picture that was painted of this section of Detroit and all the ways that ushered in change. I also loved the matching and thought-provoking cocktail recipes added in. This is a unique and interesting book that had a nice flow and kept me interested from beginning to end.

5/5 stars

Thank you NetGalley and Amistad/HarperCollins for this ARC and in return I am submitting my unbiased and voluntary review and opinion.

I am posting this review to my GR and Bookbub accounts immediately and will post it to my Amazon and B&N accounts upon publication.

[Kim Lockhart · Rating 5 out of 5]

Randall has undertaken meticulous research in order to share the stories of a people, a place, and their communal sacrifices, loss, greatness, triumph, confidence and mountain-top moments.


Randall approaches common horrors of the time with the same grim determination of her characters who refused to be unmade or defined by those experiences. By sheer defiance, we are forced into the stark examination of our shared histories.


For most readers, this is a view through a knot hole in the fence between worlds. And there is fierce joy, pride, and a kind of tension-sprung level of alertness and tenacity that leads to excellence. These aren't passive characters. Even thoughts are actions, and every action has purpose. 


Randall demonstrates the power of community in which each individual has a sense of place as a foundation. In this way, a new maxim is born: the parts can, in time, transcend the whole.

[Adam · Rating 2 out of 5]

Having competed 17 out of 52 chapters, I'm giving up on this book that isn't quite a novel or history - more like an exercise in name dropping. The narrator says he's writing a book of "saints lives" that celebrates the denizens of Detroit's "Black Bottom" neighborhood in its heyday in the early to mid 20th century. He then goes on to give us 52 chapters, each one about a different individual (actual historical figures), loosely tied together by the narrator and a couple of characters that I assume are fictional. There's a lot of structure and a lot of famous and not-so-famous names, but no real plot and disappointingly not really much of a sense of place. I got bored. I picked this up after reading Thomas Sugrue's history of modern Detroit and thought it might be an interesting exploration, but it wasn't for me.

[ColumbusReads · Rating 4 out of 5]

3.5*

[Rae · Rating 5 out of 5]

When you read a book like Black Bottom Saints and you are a white, privileged, woman who grew up only 45 minutes south of Detroit — you realize how much knowledge you lack, how many experiences you chose to ignore, how many people that were next door, but incredibly invisible. I am an anti-racist, but my education will never end. I will never know enough. I could never know all the stories of all the saints in this world that I live in. I want to eat, sleep and drink more of this culture. Alice Randall says she wanted this book to appeal to all 5 senses, but it transcends the 5 senses, it goes deep to the soul. It left me wanting more than 52 weeks in a year, more than 4 seasons, more than 52 cards…52 saints…more than 5 senses. What an incredible multi-media, deep dive into the Black Bottom. What a brilliant and important writer. Randall’s language is impeccable. I want more…

[Kathleen Gray · Rating 5 out of 5]

Hard to describe. but impossible to put down, this is Ziggy Johnson's deathbed reflection on Detroit and 52 Black "Saints." Ziggy's life story is wound through the portraits of the men and women who visited the Black Bottom. Each chapter includes a cocktail (I wish I had the ingredients for all of them)- a unique tribute to the person. You might wonder about his goddaughter Mari and her role in this but all will be clear-no spoiler from me. Ziggy was a real person, as were the individual Saints- I found myself googling for more information about them- what a wonderful thing when a novel propels you to do that. Thanks to the publisher for the ARC. Terrific writing and a strong narrative voice make this an excellent read.

[Jolie · Rating 3 out of 5]

They built a city with Black joy and it was called Detroit. Alice Randall’s book of Detroit saints sketches a secular Black heaven full of excellence and industriousness. The saints are vivid and the language pops with ecstatic spasms of poetry. The book sometimes sags under the weight of Randall’s encyclopedic knowledge of early- to mid-century Detroit, but the trip through time is well worth taking.

[Barbara · Rating 3 out of 5]

It’s not so much that I didn’t like the book, I just lost interest.
I reached my limit of interest in vignettes about colorful characters from Detroit.

[Judy · Rating 4 out of 5]

I love Alice Randall. She writes about Black people in a most unique way. I have read three of her earlier books: Rebel Yell, The Wind Done Gone (a retelling of Gone With the Wind from a slave's point of view) and Ada's Rules (a hilarious novel about dieting from a Black woman's point of view.) That is her forte: the Black point of view. She sneaks it into your consciousness the way a great song can do. She is also a Nashville songwriter.

Black Bottom Saints takes place in Detroit from depression days to the late 60s. Black Bottom was a Black neighborhood where residents worked in the auto plants making the money to send their kids to college and boost them up in American society. Ziggy Johnson is the star of a book about numerous Black stars and saints, including musicians, sports figures, politicians, and many others. He wrote a gossip column for a neighborhood newspaper, he ran a night club and he founded a school of dance and theater for Black kids, especially girls. I recognized many of those he named saints, I learned of many I did not know before.

If this interests you check out the summary of the book. I honestly don't know how Alice Randall pulled off the magic she did in this one. It is at once historical, whimsical, and enlightening. Never does she tone down the misery of being Black in America but never does she present these men, women and kids as victims. It is a praise hymn to a people working together to lift each other up. Her version of Black Lives Matter.

[Casey]

DNF. I was listening to this title and just couldn't get into it at this time. I loved the recipes for cocktails in each chapter. I was confused by all of the many characters. Maybe driving while listening was too distracting.

[Meg · Rating 4 out of 5]

This book is hard to rate. I listened to it on audio so that is definitely a contributing factor to the difficulty. There are 2 parallel plot lines - that of a dying Ziggy Johnson who is writing about his favorite 52 Black Bottom “Saints” (aka influential people in Detroit’s black community) and that of “colored girl” who was one of Ziggy’s students in his dance studio who disappeared from Ziggy’s life around the time of his death. From what I could piece together, she was quasi-kidnapped by her mother from Detroit. I can’t tell if her parents were ever married but her father was the kingpin of the Black Bottom underworld and her mother was a self-involved drama queen who didn’t really want colored girl so much as she wanted to control her. Ziggy, for some reason, left his manuscript of his 52 saints to her, while she was only 9 when her died, instead of to his own daughter who had gone into writing/journalism. I didn’t really understand the relationship between Ziggy and Colored Girl. Ziggy wrote about a lot of people, some well known (Joe Lewis, Eartha Kitt, Martian Luther King Jr, Dinah Washington) and some not so well known. Each story follows with a libation to drink in their honor. Through the story on the saints, we also get a history of Detroit, including the legendary cars built there, many of which were built by the black bread winners that supported Ziggy and his school. I enjoyed learning about the variety of people Ziggy introduced as his saints, but I never really understood the story of colored girl. Part of the issue was that her story jumped all over the place. She’s an adult visiting her dying mother and then she’s a child in Detroit, then she’s on a rafting trip as a teenager and then a young girl writing letters to father begging him to bring her back to Detroit. I wished that her story was more linear. I also had this problem with Ziggy’s stories because many of his saints stories overlapped with one another but in different time periods but those didn’t bother me as much as colored girl’s meandering timeline.

[Rachel · Rating 5 out of 5]

Black Bottom Saints by Alice Randall is an excellent collection of fascinating men and women that created a one-of-a-kind, memorable, and unique area of Detroit what it was during the particular period of 20th century. Here Ms. Randall creates a list of nationally well-known African Americans and locally “famous” individuals that helped shape this neighborhood into the timeless essence that it will always be.

I loved peaking into the lives of people that made a difference. Their lives are fascinating, intriguing, and awe-inspiring. I loved the picture that was painted of this section of Detroit and all the ways that ushered in change. I also loved the matching and thought-provoking cocktail recipes added in. This is a unique and interesting book that had a nice flow and kept me interested from beginning to end.

5/5 stars

Thank you NetGalley and Amistad/HarperCollins for this ARC and in return I am submitting my unbiased and voluntary review and opinion.

I am posting this review to my GR and Bookbub accounts immediately and will post it to my Amazon and B&N accounts upon publication.

[Barbara Monaghan · Rating 5 out of 5]

This book is simply stunning. It's the story of Joseph "Ziggy" Johnson a backbone of Detroit's Black Bottom district. Written from his deathbed Ziggy reflects on his life from the depression through WWII, when Detroit was the epicenter for Black music, entertainment, sports, and fashion. Interweaved through the novel are the tales of his goddaughter and her life with her difficult mother. The writing is phenomenal, the format so creative, and the characters are brilliant. I couldn't put it down, although I kept having to stop to do more research on the people in the novel.. It's historical fiction at it's finest. Oh, and the cocktail recipes alone are worth reading the book. Thank you so much @AmistadBooks for inviting me to read this wonderful book.

[Temika · Rating 5 out of 5]

Special thanks to @amistadbooks for sending me a copy of this new book!

Black Bottom Saints was a great experience. Black folks been persevering and excelling no matter what for a LONG time. This book highlights a lot of the ancestors that you may have never heard of but did great things in their own right. It also highlights the Black Bottom (historic area in Detroit) and Idlewild (historic resort area in West Michigan).

Pick this up if you need a reminder of who came before you and what they went through so you’d have a better (not perfect) experience.

[Tracy Griffin · Rating 2 out of 5]

I loved the author writing. But I had a hard time visualize the story. I was wondering the market was wrong cause it felt like nonfiction.

[Wendy · Rating 5 out of 5]

This extraordinary work of historical fiction brings to life the “Saints” of Detroit’s Black Bottom area, and should be required reading. This area of Detroit was second only to Harlem in terms of producing talent. The Saints in this book include 52 actors, musicians, athletes, artists, politicians, civil rights leaders, and others who lived, worked, and often moved on from Black Bottom Detroit in the 20th century. Each chapter is devoted to one of the Saints and includes a distinctive cocktail recipe paired with their story.

The Black Bottom area was named for a location built on swampy “black bottomed” land in Detroit where people lived and worked. It was a primarily Black neighborhood with more than 100,000 families and businesses. In the 1960s, the neighborhood was torn up and replaced by Lafayette Park and freeways.

Descriptions of the Saints and their stories are lovingly revealed by the protagonist, Joseph “Ziggy” Johnson, a former dance instructor and local historian who shares his memories with Mari, a favorite student. Mari, also referring to herself as “Colored Girl,” faithfully writes down his memories as he describes the Black Bottom Saints one week and one chapter at a time.

I can only begin to imagine the depth of research and devotion, and to describe the craftsmanship that went into creating this engrossing story. Alice Randall is a truly amazing writer.

[Cindy Burnett (Thoughts from a Page) · Rating 4 out of 5]

This literary gem pays homage to Detroit’s iconic neighborhood, Black Bottom, and the individuals who contributed to its prominence and reputation as a hub for fashion, jazz, sports and politics from the 1920s through the mid-20th century. At the end of his life, Joseph “Ziggy” Johnson, former gossip columnist and emcee at one of the area’s fabled night clubs, narrates this creative and stunning tale recounting the story of his life, the community, and the 52 “saints” that helped shape Black Bottom. From well-known names like Joe Louis to locals lost to history, Johnson relates the lives of these storied men and women while pairing a cocktail recipe that he feels evokes the character of each saint. With glittering prose and a unique voice, Randall highlights an important time period in this country’s history.

Listen to my author interviews here: https://www.thoughtsfromapage.com, and for more of my reviews, check out my Instagram account: https://www.instagram.com/thoughtsfro....

[Carla Bayha · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is really 3 or 4 books in one, interconnected in an astonishingly adept fashion that like all good books of history (and historical fiction) will leave you researching for more. The real Ziggy Johnson ran a theater and dance school for young Black girls in Detroit, wrote an entertainment column for Detroit's Black newspaper, and knew seemingly everybody in Black American cultural and political circles, when Detroit was really the "third city" and the "caramel Camelot" for Black people. The impact of the auto industry is explained by one of the 52 "Saints" profiled in this book: "Boring, profitable work will send you out to a club. [ ] Work on an assembly line and you're hungry for human interaction. And all that going out meant everybody wanted to play Detroit." Fictional Ziggy and a young girl (how much of that is our author--most or all?) trade off narrating. A delightful bonus are the 52 cocktail recipes developed in honor of these black saints.( Helpful tip: a pony is half a shot.) You will weep for how everytime Detroit's black culture rose, it got kicked down again by auto layoffs, urban renewal, and even the Michigan Lottery (see "The World According to Fannie Davis" for a look at how the "numbers" were one of the few paths for black families to the middle class). Read this and take a trip to the Charles H. Wright Museum of African American History--it's appropriately built on the land where Ziggy's school used to be in "Black Bottom."

[Christine Comito · Rating 5 out of 5]

I had just started reading this when my friend invited me to a virtual "happy hour" with the author! I wish I had read more of the book before the meeting because the author, Alice Randall, was very interesting and informative as to how to she researched this book.

I learned a lot about a lot of Black people I had never heard of but deserve to have their stories known just as any white person of accomplishment. I enjoyed the short vignettes of each of Ziggy's saints and took time to look up online more of many of their stories. The author also included a unique cocktail for each of the saints, using as inspiration Tom Bullock's The Ideal Bartender, the first cocktail book published by an African American, in 1917.

What a great and unique idea from the author.

[Barbara · Rating 5 out of 5]

I thoroughly enjoyed this wonderful book. I deliberately slowed down my reading pace so that I could savor it. Randall brings alive Detroit (Motown) through short chapters, each devoted to a "saint" over the course of 52 weeks. The book is like an onion with layers pealed back as the stories unfold and the character of Ziggy Johnson is revealed. The book is full of joy, resiliency and love and I look forward to reading more about the real life people who fill this book from Joe Louis to Eartha Kitt. It will set me on many new avenues of discovery. This book should be on everyone's reading list.

[Steve · Rating 4 out of 5]

A fascinating and educational - but still entertaining- novel. On his deathbed in 1968, Ziggy Johnson, who was a real-life Detroit newspaper columnist, dance-school owner and entertainment emcee, reminisces about dozens of famous, infamous and forgotten famous Black celebrities in two and three-page snippets. (Not all are from Detroit’s Black Bottom of the title.) I lost count of the number of Google searches I did on the people and events mentioned here - early 20th century tap dancer John Bubbles, who Fred Astaire called the best tap dancer he ever saw, and Nat King Cole being attacked onstage in Alabama in the 1950s by KKK members.
This is not a conventional novel with a narrative that carries throughout the book. It’s strength lies in telling the story of how mid-20th century Blacks survived and prospered.

[Katrina De Man · Rating 4 out of 5]

Reading this book was a little like attending a whooping great party and just hanging around the edges because the party was not at all about you even as you couldn't take your eyes off everyone who was there and what they were doing. It's an important and tender read.

[Stephanie Doyle · Rating 4 out of 5]

I devoured this book in less than 12 hours. I loved it! Different and beautiful.

Thanks to Netgalley for the free read in exchange for an honest review.

[Peter · Rating 5 out of 5]

It took a while to get into the rhythm and flow, but it tells an interesting story of a Detroit that is gone and known by to few.