First published 1986
J. Anthony Lukas follows three Boston families as their lives collide during the city's violent school desegregation battles. The Twymons, a working-class African-American family, seek better opportunities for their children. The McGoffs, Irish-American residents of Charlestown, watch their neighborhood transform under court-ordered integration. The Divers, middle-class Yankees living in the South End, grapple with their liberal ideals as racial tensions explode around them. Each family carries generations of Boston history in their blood, from immigration struggles to economic hardship. As busing begins in the 1970s, their paths cross in unexpected ways. Protesters fill the streets of Charlestown while the South End becomes an uneasy experiment in integration. The families must confront not only racial divides but also the class barriers that separate them. Lukas reveals how personal choices and historical forces shape ordinary lives during extraordinary times. This triple award winner captures the human cost of social change in a city torn apart by its own contradictions.
Genres: civil-war, american-fiction, historical-fiction, 20th-century, african-american, american-history
Vibes: intimate, suspenseful, thought-provoking
Tropes: family-saga, social-change
Setting: Boston, Charlestown, South End
Period: 1970s
688 pages · Paperback · Vintage
Content warnings: racism