Detroit 67: The Year That Changed Soul

FULLY REVISED AND EDITED PAPERBACK EDITION

Shortlisted for the Penderyn Music Prize

Detroit '67 is the story of Motor City in the year that changed everything. Twelve chapters take you on a turbulent, year-long journey through the drama and chaos that ripped through the city in 1967, tearing it apart in personal, political, and interracial disputes.

It is the story of Motown, the break-up of The Supremes, and the damaging disputes at the heart of the most successful African-American music label ever. Set against a backdrop of urban riots, escalating war in Vietnam, and police corruption, the book weaves its way through a year when soul music truly came of age and the underground counterculture flourished. LSD arrived in the city with hallucinogenic power, and local guitar band MC5 – self-styled holy barbarians of rock – went to war with mainstream America. A summer of street-level rebellion transformed Detroit into one of the most notorious cities on earth, known for its unique creativity, its unpredictability, and its self-lacerating crime rates. The year 1967 ended in social meltdown, rancour, and intense legal warfare as the complex threads that held Detroit together finally unravelled.

This book also features the story of DETROIT, a major motion picture.