Kevin Boyle and 'Arc of Justice' Come Home Again for Great Michigan Read

Author and Detroit native Kevin Boyle is pretty pumped about the idea of coming home this fall. The reason? Boyle’s compelling book, Arc of Justice: A Saga of Race, Civil Rights and Murder in the Jazz Age has been selected by the Michigan Humanities Council as this year’s featured title for the 2011-2012 Great Michigan Read.

“I’m absolutely thrilled to have Arc of Justice selected for the Great Michigan Read,” Boyle shared in an email, and said the choice of his book holds “particularly powerful meaning.” 

Boyle’s Arc of Justice “tells the story of African American Dr. Ossian Sweet and the chain of events that occurred after he purchased a home for his family in an all-white Detroit neighborhood in 1925.”* After an altercation one evening with his enraged white neighbors, Sweet’s life — and the course of Detroit’s racial history — are forever altered. 

Published in 2004 (Henry Holt and Co.), Boyle’s Arc of Justice was released to high praise. Called “electrifying” and “powerful” by critics, Arc of Justice snagged several coveted literary prizes such as the 2004 National Book Award for Nonfiction and the Chicago Tribune Heartland Prize, and was nominated as a finalist for both the Pulitzer Prize and the National Book Critics Circle Award.  

Arc of Justice has also made its mark on Michigan’s literary scene. Boyle’s nonfiction book was selected in 2005 as a Michigan Notable Book and was the 2007 pick for the Detroit metro community-wide Everyone’s Reading program. Now Arc of Justice will make yet another appearance in the state as the star of this year’s Great Michigan Read.

The Great Michigan Read is a statewide initiative intended to encourage Michiganians of all ages to read and participate in book discussions. It targets Michigan themes so that the literature will be more accessible and interesting to citizens of the state.

Closer to home, 's associate director Matt Church informed me that Baldwin will not be participating in this year’s Great Michigan Read because they used Arc of Justice for the Everyone’s Reading program just a few years ago. Regardless, Church says Boyle’s book was “very well received” and the Baldwin Public Library carries several written and audio copies of Arc of Justice and discussion questions from the 2007 Everyone’s Reading program are still available online. 

Though Baldwin won’t be participating, keep in mind that the Great Michigan Read offers various venues for both book and author outside of the library setting. Book clubs, classrooms, colleges and museums are but a few of the potential sites that can sponsor a reading or get directly involved with Arc of Justice and bring fine literature to life. 

Whether or not Kevin Boyle will hit the Birmingham area at all is still to be determined as the Great Michigan Read schedule takes shape. Boyle currently lives in Ohio but is, in fact, excited to be “coming home” this fall for a six-city author tour as part of the Read program. “It’ll be great to talk about Detroit, about Arc of Justice, and about the big questions the story raised,” says Boyle. “Most of all, it’ll be great to be home.”