Rating: 
Summary: Great topic -- disappointing result
Review: After hearing an interview with the author on a local radio show I couldn't wait to buy this book. I live in Hamtramck, less than a mile from where the Purples got their start, and I was hoping for a definitive chronicle of their rise and fall, with names, dates and locations that I could relate to. Instead, I got an extended, poorly-edited outline that begged for more detailed and specific exposition. While I don't regret my purchase I was sorely disappointed and sincerely hope that Mr. Kavieff will expand his research and revise the book with the assistance of a more competent editor and publisher. I also strongly recommend he read Lowell Cauffiel's "Masquerade" for pointers on how to write a masterful tale of the Detroit underbelly.
Rating: 
Summary: The Purple Gang of Detroit
Review: As another reviewer pointed out, this is an important book because it is the only book on the Purple Gang. How this gang has escaped serious study is beyond me. Growing up in the Detroit area their name has popped up over the years many many times, as some oldtimer recollects or a house that once was a Purple Gang hideout is bulldozed, stuff like that. One time in the Detroit Public Library I went into the history room and they asked for my ID and I jokingly said, "what do you think I am in the Purple Gang or something?" The guy who asked laughed and said "funny you should say that. A writer has been trying to research the Purple Gang, and is having a hell of a time. It seems like most of the police files on them have somehow disappeared". I cannot vouch for that info, but I suppose that it was the author of this book that was doing the research and maybe that explains why there is so little info available. For that reason alone, despite the grammatical errors that others found annoying, I give it 5 stars. I found it a fascinating read.
Rating:
Summary: a bit of Detroit History never told before.
Review: Great read, a time in Detroit's history that was all but forgotten, writen like you were there. Clears up all the "false Purple Gang Stories". Highly Recommended.
Rating:
Summary: a bit of Detroit History never told before.
Review: Great read, a time in Detroit's history that was all but forgotten, writen like you were there. Clears up all the "false Purple Gang Stories". Highly Recommended.
Rating: 
Summary: Poor editing makes this book unreadable
Review: I agree with the review above. The treatment of the subject matter was anecdotal and superficial. However, I could have lived with that, had the book been more readable on a literary level. Shame on the editor for letting this book be printed in the shape it was. The typos, redundancies and grammatical mistakes were so distracting that I almost didn't finish the book.
Rating:
Summary: Poor editing makes this book unreadable
Review: I am sorry, this book suffers terribly from a number of problems. I found it to be quite superficial in it's content. Were it only a problem with the author I could overlook it's problems as a sincere effort by an author who was interested enough in the subject to write a book, but the real crime is in the editing and publishing/printing. This book was allowed to be released with so many printing errors that it distracts the reader almost completely. I am sorry to say a book that deals with a subject that I find of great interest does so in such a poor way. It appears that a stronger editor was needed to organize the content and oversee the publication.
Rating:
Summary: The Purple Gang
Review: I am sorry, this book suffers terribly from a number of problems. I found it to be quite superficial in it's content. Were it only a problem with the author I could overlook it's problems as a sincere effort by an author who was interested enough in the subject to write a book, but the real crime is in the editing and publishing/printing. This book was allowed to be released with so many printing errors that it distracts the reader almost completely. I am sorry to say a book that deals with a subject that I find of great interest does so in such a poor way. It appears that a stronger editor was needed to organize the content and oversee the publication.
Rating: 
Summary: Could Have Been Better
Review: I eagerly awaited Paul Kavieff's The Purple Gang and in some ways it was worth the wait. It's certainly the best book written on this notorious gang but mainly because it's the only one. There's a lot of good background info on the gang and some great photos. Because of this, unlike some reviewers, I won't quibble about the writing style and the typos. I read the book from cover to cover and this did not bother me in the slightest. One thing I, as a fellow crime historian, found highly annoying, though, and which detracts from Kavieff's obvious research, is his vagary on dates. A serious history providing otherwise detailed accounts of murders or other events should not begin with "one fateful day in 1923" or "early in 1933." Times, places, etc. are given in detail but dates are maddeningly few in this book on the sordid side of Detroit's history. The latter phrase, leading into the murders of Purple Gangsters Abe Axler and Ed Fletcher, is also way off. Axler and Fletcher were slain on November 26, 1933, certainly not early in the year. Many crime historians also wonder if there may have been a connection between their killings and that of Verne Miller, triggerman in the Kansas City Massacre, who was also slain in Detroit just three days later. These three homicides were heavily covered in the Detroit press at the time and it's a wonder Kavieff didn't delve into this further. The Purples' alleged connection to the St. Valentine's Day Massacre is also highly doubtful. It's a worthwhile book for crime historians and deserving of a second edition but with considerable rewrite.
Rating:
Summary: An almost unreadable treasure of information
Review: If you'e ever wondered exactly what it is that a book editor does, read this volume and discover what happens when a book goes directly to print without any editing, proofreading or even spellchecking. The result is a confused jumble of facts, so poorly organized that the reader has trouble simply trying to figure out the sequence of events described. Beyond the many spelling and punctuation errors (the author needs a serious tutorial on how to use apostrophes)and the hideous typeface are hundreds of confused descriptions and misuses of words that leave the reader not only confused, but occasionally laughing out loud. Consider the description of Hyman Altma. Having described him as a man who stood 5'8" and weighed 200 lbs, Kavieff goes on to say of this rather short man "Because of his formidable stature..." In a number of sections, the same sentence is repeated two or three times- which makes the reader wonder if even the author had given it a final reading before sending it off to his publisher. This mess of a book has one redeeming feature- Kavieff has assembled a very complete and fascinating history of the Purple gang. That's if you can manage to read it, and at least two people I know couldn't. Caveat Emptor.
Rating:
Summary: An almost unreadable treasure of information
Review: If you'e ever wondered exactly what it is that a book editor does, read this volume and discover what happens when a book goes directly to print without any editing, proofreading or even spellchecking. The result is a confused jumble of facts, so poorly organized that the reader has trouble simply trying to figure out the sequence of events described. Beyond the many spelling and punctuation errors (the author needs a serious tutorial on how to use apostrophes)and the hideous typeface are hundreds of confused descriptions and misuses of words that leave the reader not only confused, but occasionally laughing out loud. Consider the description of Hyman Altma. Having described him as a man who stood 5'8" and weighed 200 lbs, Kavieff goes on to say of this rather short man "Because of his formidable stature..." In a number of sections, the same sentence is repeated two or three times- which makes the reader wonder if even the author had given it a final reading before sending it off to his publisher. This mess of a book has one redeeming feature- Kavieff has assembled a very complete and fascinating history of the Purple gang. That's if you can manage to read it, and at least two people I know couldn't. Caveat Emptor.
| 
