New nonfiction book set in Detroit

**Steve Luxenberg** · August-06-09, 08:32 AM

Thanks for ordering it, DetroitTeacher. Let the forum know what you think, positive or negative [[or both). Of course, I know which I prefer...

Steve

**DetroitTeacher** · August-07-09, 07:27 PM

Steve: Right now I am just starting the book [[I'm on Chapter 3). I must say that it's a hard book to put down! I feel as if I am sucked into the story and am right there with you, experiencing things as you did. I was particularly moved by your Prologue. I felt as if I were reliving the last year or so of my grandmother's life [[sans the secret). I can't wait to find out what happens! Two thumbs up!

**Steve Luxenberg** · August-09-09, 08:28 PM

DetroitTeacher,

Music to any writer's ears, to hear a reader say that "it's a hard book to put down" and that you were "sucked into the story. . . experiencing things as you did." I'm also partial to those readers who have told me "it's a fast read" and "I read it in two sittings!"

My favorite, though: I met a guy at a book signing last week who said he called in sick at work so that he could stay home to read the book...

Steve

**DetroitTeacher** · August-09-09, 09:17 PM

Steve: I am off for summer vacation. Normally, I would be preparing for the coming school year but I don't know what grades I am teaching. I am 2/3 of the way through the book and am fascinated! I have been reading quite a bit lately and I must say, your book is the best I've read this summer! My reaction in reading thus far has been, "Come on, someone has to know SOMETHING!!" I'm still sucked in...

**Steve Luxenberg** · August-10-09, 08:17 PM

My wife, the school librarian, can identify with the confusion that comes each August as the school system engages in the annual ritual of figuring out who will be teaching which grades.....

As for the book, your instincts are right .. the last third has quite a few payoffs.

Steve

**DetroitTeacher** · August-10-09, 10:43 PM

Steve: I was telling my mom about the book [[she's a psych nurse) and now she wants it when I am done. A few people, who were sitting nearby, overheard me telling mom about it and they were inquiring about the name of the book.

I just read the part about your dad's secret. It's really weird because my grandfather would never talk about his experiences in the war either. I'll probably get it done by Wednesday so be on the lookout for future posts.

**Steve Luxenberg** · August-11-09, 02:48 PM

I had a lot of good feedback from people in the psychiatric community or from families with a member who has treated for mental illness. Their view of the book's authenticity is, as you can imagine, important to me.

Steve

**Steve Luxenberg** · August-11-09, 05:29 PM

Several people have emailed me through my website, steveluxenberg.com, to say that the various bookstores in Detroit have been selling out of Annie's Ghosts.

This is good news and bad news, for obvious reasons. [[I had a first-hand experience along these lines when I was in town last month. I needed to buy a book as a gift for a friend, and learned that the ordering system wasn't keeping up with the demand.)

I have reported the "problem" to my publisher, but it's not easy to match supply and demand for a single book. There are the online alternatives, of course: Amazon, the websites for Barnes and Noble and Borders, as well as IndieBound [[the online network of independent booksellers) and BooksaMillion.

The suburban libraries have a lot of copies [[thanks, book clubs!), altahough the Detroit Public Library [[budget woes) only has one for the entire system.

My fans are welcome to let the brick-and-mortar bookstores [[and the DPL) know that it would be good to get more books....

Steve

**DetroitTeacher** · August-12-09, 03:53 PM

I finished the book. Steve, I am glad that Annie finally received the voice and dignity she didn't have when she was alive. I don't want to spoil it for the rest of the folks who have yet to read it, so I won't go into detail. The book is a page turner, for sure. I was drawn into it and felt like I was there, interviewing people and taking your journey with you. It's on its way to making the rounds in my family.

**Steve Luxenberg** · August-13-09, 08:00 AM

The following image comes from the Wayne County court records. It shows the front of the petition that my grandmother signed to have Annie, my secret aunt, committed to an institution. It appears in Annie's Ghosts.

**Steve Luxenberg** · August-20-09, 10:16 AM

Coming next week: I'll be interviewed on Wednesday, Aug. 26, about Annie's Ghosts on WDET, 101.9FM. Details [[including the time) soon.

**Steve Luxenberg** · August-23-09, 12:43 PM

As promised: My interview with Detroit Today is scheduled for this coming Wednesday, August 26, sometime in the 1 p.m-2 p.m. time slot, probably around 1:30 p.m. for 15 minutes or so. For those who might want to learn more about the book before listening, there's a lot of info at steveluxenberg.com.

**Steve Luxenberg** · August-25-09, 08:18 PM

A reminder: The Detroit Today show on WDET will interview me about Annie's Ghosts and the Detroit threads in the story, sometime in the 1 pm - 2 pm hour, tentatively between 1:15 and 1:45. If you're not near a radio, you can listen live via the Internet at http://www.wdetfm.org/detroittoday/. An audio clip will be available at the WDET website soon after the show signs off.

--Steve

**4Oranges** · August-25-09, 10:35 PM

I'll be listening....No Spoilers!!!!

**Steve Luxenberg** · August-27-09, 04:12 PM

Being interviewed on a hometown radio station, by an interviewer who has read the book and asks good questions, now that's the trifecta of book touring. [[It didn't hurt that he called Annie's Ghosts a "gripping" read.)

We covered a lot of terrain in our fifteen minutes, delving into the consequences of keeping secrets and the evolution of the Michigan mental health system [[and I only had to say "spoiler alert" once).

For those who weren't near a radio or the Internet when it was aired and would like to hear it, click on this link or go to http://www.wdetfm.org/rss and follow the instructions for accsssing the show through the WDET archives. [[Tip: The interview begins midway through the show's first hour, at 1:31 p.m.)

If you want to continue the discussion or add any info on the current state of affairs in mental health treatment/funding [[or any other related issue), please come back to post your comment/question.

Steve

**Steve Luxenberg** · September-09-09, 03:44 PM

For any Detroit ex-pats living in the Washington, DC vicinity -- I'm speaking about Annie's Ghosts, and my research in Detroit, at the Newseum, 555 Pennsylvania Avenue, on Saturday, Sept. 19, at 2:30 p.m.

**RealityCheck** · September-09-09, 05:50 PM

This right here, belatedly enjoyed by Mr. Latecomer, is another reminder of why stopping by DY for a spell at least semi-regularly is worthwhile.

What a fine spread of fresh fare, interesting people and stimulating conversations at Lowell's salon.

It's worth having to tune out an occasional ruckus or look away from some sort of unpleasantness for a chance to hear from visitors such as Steve Luxenberg and get steered to his blog and book.

Thanks again, LB - cool place you've got.

**Detroitgayhistoryguy** · September-09-09, 07:01 PM

Steve, I have a slightly off topic question for you. I know that during the 1930's and 40s when a gay guy was arrested in Detroit for "soliciting" for sex, if they were arrested a 2nd time for the same thing, they were often sentenced to a mental institution until the doctors said they were "cured" of their homosexuality. In your research of this place did you see any evidence of this?

Thank you

http://detroitgayhistory.blogspot.com/

**Steve Luxenberg** · September-10-09, 02:58 PM

Dear realitycheck -- thanks for including me in the category of fresh fare and stimulating conversation. The last thing an author wants to be known for is a stale and boring meal.

Which leads to detroitgayhistoryguy's interesting question about whether a second arrest for "soliciting sex" in the 1930s and 1940s could have landed a gay guy in a mental hospital until "cured."

Unfortunately, I can't shed any light on this question, based on my previous research. I did not run into any such cases in the records I saw. I read a month's worth of involuntary commitment cases that went through the Wayne County Probate Court, trying to get a sense of how cases were routinely handled, but I didn't do a comprehensive study of the many reasons for such commitments.

I phoned a psychiatric who worked at Eloise for nearly 30 years, beginning in 1948. He didn't recall any such cases as you described. His knowledge, though, begins at the very end of the time period that you cited.

If I learn anything else, I'll post it. If anyone reading this thread has any specific information or source of information, please post or send me a note at steve@steveluxenberg.com.

Steve

**Detroitgayhistoryguy** · September-10-09, 09:10 PM

Originally Posted by Steve Luxenberg

Dear realitycheck -- thanks for including me in the category of fresh fare and stimulating conversation. The last thing an author wants to be known for is a stale and boring meal.

Which leads to detroitgayhistoryguy's interesting question about whether a second arrest for "soliciting sex" in the 1930s and 1940s could have landed a gay guy in a mental hospital until "cured."

Unfortunately, I can't shed any light on this question, based on my previous research. I did not run into any such cases in the records I saw. I read a month's worth of involuntary commitment cases that went through the Wayne County Probate Court, trying to get a sense of how cases were routinely handled, but I didn't do a comprehensive study of the many reasons for such commitments.

I phoned a psychiatric who worked at Eloise for nearly 30 years, beginning in 1948. He didn't recall any such cases as you described. His knowledge, though, begins at the very end of the time period that you cited.

If I learn anything else, I'll post it. If anyone reading this thread has any specific information or source of information, please post or send me a note at steve@steveluxenberg.com.

Steve

Thanks so much for checking into that. I found reference to this from this book. [[Google book result) http://books.google.com/books?id=nId...%20Tim&f=false

It mentions "The 1939 Goodrich Act" and one specific instance of someone being placed in a state hospital in Ionia.

**Steve Luxenberg** · September-12-09, 08:40 PM

Thanks for posting that link. I know something about the Goodrich Act -- the "Goodrich" in the law's title referred to Merton W. Goodrich, who had committed one of those horrifying crimes that sometimes leads to new laws. In 1934, Detroit police found the body of 11-year-old Lillian Gallaher in a trunk inside an apartment rent to Goodrich and his wife. The girl had been missing for a wee; she disappeared while selling game-of-chance tickets door to door, part of a fundraising effort for her Catholic school. The discovery of her body set off a nationwide hunt for the Goodrich couple. For several weeks, the newspapers had daily coverage of the police investigation.

A year later, police in New York City arrested a suspicious man for annoying children in Central Park. A fingerprint check turned up the warrants in the Detroit case. Goodrich was sent back to Michigan for trial, convicted and sentenced to life in prison.

Goodrich had previously lived in Ohio, where he had a previous record of assaulting young girls, it turned out. Twice, he was sent for observation to Ohio's institution for the criminally insane, and released. When that fact came out, it caused a public outcry, which led the Michigan legislature to revise and toughen its "criminal psychopathics" law, aimed largely at crimes of a sexual or homicidal nature.

The superintendent at Eloise, anticipating the legislature's action, created a "Red Star" ward for 60 or so dangerous patients, defined as homicidal or sexually deviant. [[The ward drew its name from the red stars that the superintendent ordered to be put on the case files of such patients.)

As part of my research into Eloise I read a dissertion by a Wayne University graduate student about the Red Star ward, which suggested that the patients had committed sexual assaults. But there weren't many specifics. A thorough study would require the patient records, if they still exist. Generally, only family members with legal authority could get such records.

Steve

**Detroitgayhistoryguy** · September-13-09, 04:40 PM

Wow, that is fascinating. I did notice that Tim Rezloff did mention something like that "Was one of two know cases". What I think he meant was there was only two cases of homosexuals being sent to mental hospitals for soliciting an undercover police officer for sex. So, it probably was not as extensive as I had first thought. I found this in the Michigan state archives: http://www.michigan.gov/documents/mh...53_50016_7.pdf

It lists in a couple of places, studies done on sexual deviates research 1947-1955 and a couple of others. This could be interesting reading. But, I would have to drive to Lansing and visit the archives to read them. You'll notice it lists "Sanatoria" 1940-1957 Go through the list there are a few things that could be of interest to you regarding mental health.

**Steve Luxenberg** · September-13-09, 05:51 PM

Thanks for that link. I agree, those would make fascinating reading. The next time I'm in Lansing....

If you're interested in the Wayne master's thesis on the Red Star ward, it's available at the university's Purdy/Kresge Library. Eric M. Eisenhardt was the author, 1954 the year.

Steve

**Steve Luxenberg** · September-24-09, 04:03 PM

Breaking news for those interested in mental health issues: In this Sunday's Parade magazine, there's a short Q&A with me about how mental health treatment has changed over the past 70 years, since my secret aunt was institutionalized at Eloise in 1940, when she was 21. The Free Press/News doesn't carry Parade, but the magazine posts its articles online, as well. When the article becomes available, I'll post the link.

--Steve Luxenberg

**Steve Luxenberg** · November-01-09, 04:34 PM

Since my first about Annie's Ghosts, several of you have asked if I could let the forum know when I'll be speaking next in the Detroit area. The time is almost upon us: I have several appearances coming up.

I'll be at the Ann Arbor Jewish Book Festival at noon on Wednesday, November 11. Click here for details.
I have two appearances at the 58th annual Detroit Jewish Book Fair, which runs from November 3 to November 15. I'm speaking at 7 p.m. on Wednesday, November 11, at the Oak Park Jewish Community Center building, 15110 Ten Mile. Click here for details on the Nov. 11 event.
I'm also speaking at a "Brunch With Authors" at 11:30 a.m. on Thursday, November 12, at the West Bloomfield JCC, 6600 West Maple Road. There is a $30 fee for the brunch, and the Book Fair is asking for reservations by November 9. The other authors are novelists Dara Horn and Sally Koslow. Click here for details on the Nov. 12 brunch.

All the events include a book signing after the talk. I hope to see you there!

-- Steve Luxenberg