Date: Thu, 19 Sep 2002 10:11:22 -0400
To: WSFA members <WSFAlist at keithlynch.net>
From: Liza Kessler <LKessler at lharris.com>
Subject: [WSFA] Re: book recommendations
Reply-To: WSFA members <WSFAlist at keithlynch.net>

I would strongly recommend, if he has not already read the, anything by J.
Anthony Lukas. Lucas won the pulitzer prize for "Common Ground," which was
the story of the desegregation of the Boston public school system, told
primarily from the perspectives of three families involved.
(http://www.powells.com/cgi-bin/biblio?inkey=16-0394746163-0) The families
were a white working class Charlestown neighborhood family, in which the
mother was an anti-busing activist, an African-American working class
Dorchester family whose children were bused to Charlestown HS, and a white
middle class liberal family who moved into an integrated neighborhood to
provide their son with an integrated public school experience. (Colin
Diver, the white liberal father, has just been installed as the President
of Reed College.)

Lukas does a fabulous job of really getting under the skin of the different
people involved, so you understand why they made the choices they made. He
even manages this with the school board leader who led the fight against
busing and the judge who issued the desegregation order.

I have, but have not yet read, Lukas's book "Big Trouble."
(http://www.powells.com/cgi-bin/biblio?inkey=1-0684846179-13) But my dad
gave it to me, and I think his taste in books is similar to your dad's.

Liza

At 09:23 AM 9/19/02, you wrote:
>Since people on this list have no problems giving
>advice/expressing their opinions, I figured this would
>be as good a place as any to ask the following:
>
>My dad's birthday is next month.  When he's not
>reading for business reasons, he likes biographies,
>history, and science stuff as long as it's not too
>dumbed down but is meant for a general audience. Books
>I've gotten him recently that he's liked include a
>recent biography of Learned Hand, and "Water for
>Gotham" which was about the building of the NY
>resevoir system and the development and maintaining of
>NYC's water supply.
>
>I'm currently at a loss as to what to get him, since
>nothing in the book review sections of the NYTimes or
>the Washington Post has jumped out at me as a "wow,
>that would be perfect for dad" kind of book.
>
>Therefore, I welcome all suggestions.
>
>--cathy green
>
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