Description
Winner of three awards, Common Ground tells the story of the busing crisis in Boston. The book traces the history of three families: the working-class African-American Twymons, the working-class Irish McGoffs, and the middle-class Yankee Divers. It gives brief genealogical histories of each family, focusing on how the events they experienced illuminated Boston history, before narrowing its focus to the racial tensions of the 1960s and 1970s. Through their stories, Common Ground focuses on racial and class conflicts in two Boston neighborhoods: the working-class Irish-American enclave of Charlestown and the uneasily integrated South End.