“[An] exhaustively researched study of Boston school desegregation.” — Boston Globe
“A nuanced treatment that is distinguished by its examination of context and telling detail.” — American Historical Review
“Formisano has successfully taken on the unthinkable. With a scholar’s rigor and a writer’s passion, he has pierced the cocoon of myth surrounding matters of race and class. He has painted in, between the stark black and white, the crucial subtle shades of gray that color all social and political turmoil.” — Alan Lupo, columnist for the Boston Globe
“Formisano addresses the roots of . . . violent expressions of discrimination with sensitivity and objectivity. While the author’s remarks are confined to the Boston situation, where the struggle for integration provoked the largest, longest, and most organized protests in a northern city, by implication his observations have a much wider impact, demonstrating how a populist movement established a battlefield over a whole bag of social and economic questions.” — Booklist
“This book should put to rest the myth that northern resistance to desegregation was less overt and virulent than that in the South. . . . [Formisano’s] analysis of what went wrong in Boston is depressing but compelling and should be required reading for anyone concerned with racial equality.” — Journal of American Ethnic History
“A sensitive, compelling account of the failure of forced busing in Boston.” — Political Science Quarterly
“This work offers a convincing and dispassionate assessment of an emotionally charged subject.” — Publishers Weekly
