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J. Anthony Lukas, Common Ground: A Turbulent Decade in the Lives of Three American Families (Knopf, 1985) Reissued by Vintage in 1986 Lukas chronicles the struggle in Boston to integrate its public schools through a controversial busing program in the mid-1970s. Told through the eyes of two poor families - one white and Irish, one African-American – and the upper-middle class liberal family of the lawyer who handled the busing case, Common Ground adeptly shifts points of view to give the whole picture of a few turbulent years of America's desegregation battle. Lukas sprinkles throughout the narratives the points of view of several Boston school administrators and the judge who heard the Morgan v. Hennigan case that ended with a ruling in favor of busing. The book opens with the assassination of Martin Luther King, Jr. and the riots that took place throughout Boston in the aftermath. Lukas parallels that event in his telling of the riots that took place in September 1974 as the busing began. The white McGoff children and the black Twymon children struggle to adapt to life in their new schools as Colin Diver, a young, idealistic lawyer, tries to reconcile his liberal ideals with the reality of sending his young children to inner-city schools. Lukas knits here a huge, complex story with many dangling threads into a concise – though not compact – narrative. Common Ground won the Pulitzer Prize for nonfiction in 1986. The book also received the National Book Critics Circle Award and the American Book Award that year. MORE: Interview with Lukas from National Book Foundation archives The Pulitzer website detailing the awards for 1986 Interview with Colin Diver, the lawyer featured in "Common Ground," from the Reed College magazine. Diver is now president of Reed. |
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