Turmoil and Transition in Boston: A Political Memoir from the Busing Era
For anyone who is interested in Boston and its politics—and who isn't—this is a must read book. Larry DiCara was not only a close observer of the Boston scene at a time when the city struggled to transform itself into the extraordinary place that it has now become; he played a major role in getting us there. And yet he writes with a remarkable degree of objectivity for one so deeply involved.(Michael Dukakis)In this beautifully written account, Larry DiCara and his co-author Chris Black sweep us away on a journey through a generation of Boston's history providing us an intimate portrait of a city in transition from its Brahmin-Irish-Italian past in the 1950s to what is today a wonderfully diverse, booming metropolis. From page one to the last sentence, you will be mesmerized by DiCara's personal story of this tumultuous period in the life of one of America's great cities.(Barry Bluestone, Stearns Trustee Professor of Political Economy, Northeastern University)Larry DiCara's journey is a rich tale of the American Dream in what a true Bostonian knows to be America's greatest city. From the somehow always optimistic struggles of its new immigrants, through the raw divides of the busing era, to its gleaming renaissance, Larry's vivid memory and middle-of-it-all experience offers a behind the curtain history of a public servant always mindful of the proud family that shaped him, and always dedicated to the city whose blue collar blood shapes its sports, its politics, and its people. A great character and player in such an important era for our city helps us relive its highs—and lows—and reminds of the resilience of a great community comes from the resilience of its people.(John King, chief national correspondent CNN and native of Dorchester)