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.
