14 posts categorized "All Souls" Feed

This year, in the 40th anniversary of the explosion that was Boston busing, ALL SOULS author Michael Patrick MacDonald says it’s time to be clear: busing wasn’t just about black and white. It was also about green—who had some in their pockets, and who didn’t. Read more →


Freedom, Equality, & Publishing the Garrity Decision: A Conversation with Bookseller Marshall Smith

By Tom Hallock | I first became manager of Coolidge Corner’s Paperback Booksmith (now the Brookline Booksmith) back in 1978, just four years after Judge W. Arthur Garrity’s historic decision to integrate the Boston School District through the “forced busing” of students, as it later became known. It was a time when the fallout over that decision was still shaking the communities of Boston, and a time I revisited when Beacon first published Michael Patrick MacDonald’s All Souls, a powerful account of what it was like to be a young man growing up in Southie during the time when busing came to that neighborhood. Read more →


In an excerpt from 'All Souls: A Family Story from Southie,' Michael Patrick MacDonald writes about the firestorm of racial tension that spread throughout South Boston in the wake of Judge W. Arthur Garrity’s forced busing decision, leading up to the tempestuous autumn when Garrity’s plan was set to begin. Read more →


Three memoir passages reflect on different aspects of motherhood. Read more →


A roundup of suggestions for your new (or old) e-book reader. Read more →