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For me, it's Common Ground:  A Turbulent Decade in the Lives of Three American Families, by the late J. Anthony Lukas.  It's about Boston's school busing crisis, in the 1970's, and it tells about how three American families dealt with the overall situation, their viewpoints, and their overall perspectives of Boston's school crisis, and the fact that they all had one thing in common:  Raising up kids in Boston proper, dealing with a lousy school system that basically failed students regardless of ethnicity, race or color.   The three families, the Divers, a Yankee family from Lexingington who purchased a condominium in Boston's South End and moved there to see what they could do to help non-whites and to facilitate an integrated neighborhood, the Twymons, an impoverished African American family from Lower Roxbury and the South End, whose household was headed by a single mother who was raising a slue of kids in a subsidized housing project, and wanted them to have a better education than they were getting in their own neighborhood(s), and wanted her children to have a better education than they were getting in the black schools,  and the McGoffs, an impoverished Irish-Catholic-American family, whose household was also headed by a single  mother raising seven kids in a subsidizing housing project, and were vehemently opposed to busing.  The McGoff kids, however, reacted very differently, ranging from actively resisting the Federal Court-mandated busing order, to concentrating on their athletics and being somewhat more laid back about mandatory school busing, despite not openly favoring it. 
Although Rachel Twymon, the mother of her children, was supportive of the Federal Court-ordered mandatory school edict, due to wanting a better education for her children, she began to sour on the idea when, after riding the bus up to Charlestown High School on a number of occasions and observing not only what many of the white students and their parents in Charlestown were doing in order to resist it,  but  when Rachel Twymon saw the condition of Charlestown High School, which was just as run-down and educationally as those in Roxbury, Lower Roxbury and the South End, she herself became unhappy about the whole situation.  Although the blacks and other non-white students formed a Minority Students Council for protection, and Rachel Twymon joined a Racial-Ethnic Council in the hopes that peaceful integration of the schools would take place,  that did not happen, due to white resistance from many white students and parents alike.   
Many of the boys in both families got into crime and on the wrong side of the  law, and the girls in the Twymon family not only  got into dating men much older than they were, but also got into  sex and hanging out until all hours, and the younger daughter ended up pregnant, and giving birth to a child out of wedlock, and becoming a mother at an extremely early age.  
Not only did Common Ground:  A  Turbulent Decade in the Life of Three American Families  tell about how the three families coped with Boston's school busing crisis, but this particular book also pointed out the role that the Catholic Church, The Boston School Committee headed by Louise Day Hicks, then-Mayor Kevin Hagan White, the Boston Police, and the Federal District Judge W. Arthur Garrity (who was from Worcester, MA), and the media, including the Boston Globe played in the effort to integrate Boston's public schools.  
All told, Common Ground:  A  Turbulent Decade in the Life of Three American Families is a fascinating book, which I highly recommend!   It was written in 1985, but is only available in paperback, and is still a very popular book.  

I know you may all disagree with what I've said here, but, having seen the trailer to Steven Spielberg's upcoming film version of West Side Story, I much prefer the old, original 1961 film version.  

For me, it's Common Ground:  A Turbulent Decade in the Lives of Three American Families, by the late J. Anthony Lukas.  It's about Boston's school busing crisis, in the 1970's, and it tells about how three American families dealt with the overall situation, their viewpoints, and their overall perspectives of Boston's school crisis, and the fact that they all had one thing in common:  Raising up kids in Boston proper, dealing with a lousy school system that basically failed students regardless of ethnicity, race or color.   The three families, the Divers, a Yankee family from Lexingington who purchased a condominium in Boston's South End and moved there to see what they could do to help non-whites and to facilitate an integrated neighborhood, the Twymons, an impoverished African American family from Lower Roxbury and the South End, whose household was headed by a single mother who was raising a slue of kids in a subsidized housing project, and wanted them to have a better education than they were getting in their own neighborhood(s), and wanted her children to have a better education than they were getting in the black schools,  and the McGoffs, an impoverished Irish-Catholic-American family, whose household was also headed by a single  mother raising seven kids in a subsidizing housing project, and were vehemently opposed to busing.  The McGoff kids, however, reacted very differently, ranging from actively resisting the Federal Court-mandated busing order, to concentrating on their athletics and being somewhat more laid back about mandatory school busing, despite not openly favoring it. 
Although Rachel Twymon, the mother of her children, was supportive of the Federal Court-ordered mandatory school edict, due to wanting a better education for her children, she began to sour on the idea when, after riding the bus up to Charlestown High School on a number of occasions and observing not only what many of the white students and their parents in Charlestown were doing in order to resist it,  but  when Rachel Twymon saw the condition of Charlestown High School, which was just as run-down and educationally as those in Roxbury, Lower Roxbury and the South End, she herself became unhappy about the whole situation.  Although the blacks and other non-white students formed a Minority Students Council for protection, and Rachel Twymon joined a Racial-Ethnic Council in the hopes that peaceful integration of the schools would take place,  that did not happen, due to white resistance from many white students and parents alike.   
Many of the boys in both families got into crime and on the wrong side of the  law, and the girls in the Twymon family not only  got into dating men much older than they were, but also got into  sex and hanging out until all hours, and the younger daughter ended up pregnant, and giving birth to a child out of wedlock, and becoming a mother at an extremely early age.  
Not only did Common Ground:  A  Turbulent Decade in the Life of Three American Families  tell about how the three families coped with Boston's school busing crisis, but this particular book also pointed out the role that the Catholic Church, The Boston School Committee headed by Louise Day Hicks, then-Mayor Kevin Hagan White, the Boston Police, and the Federal District Judge W. Arthur Garrity (who was from Worcester, MA), and the media, including the Boston Globe played in the effort to integrate Boston's public schools.  
All told, Common Ground:  A  Turbulent Decade in the Life of Three American Families is a fascinating book, which I highly recommend!   It was written in 1985, but is only available in paperback, and is still a very popular book.  

For me, it's Common Ground:  A Turbulent Decade in the Lives of Three American Families, by the late J. Anthony Lukas.  It's about Boston's school busing crisis, in the 1970's, and it tells about how three American families dealt with the overall situation, their viewpoints, and their overall perspectives of Boston's school crisis, and the fact that they all had one thing in common:  Raising up kids in Boston proper, dealing with a lousy school system that basically failed students regardless of ethnicity, race or color.   The three families, the Divers, a Yankee family from Lexingington who purchased a condominium in Boston's South End and moved there to see what they could do to help non-whites and to facilitate an integrated neighborhood, the Twymons, an impoverished African American family from Lower Roxbury and the South End, whose household was headed by a single mother who was raising a slue of kids in a subsidized housing project, and wanted them to have a better education than they were getting in their own neighborhood(s), and wanted her children to have a better education than they were getting in the black schools,  and the McGoffs, an impoverished Irish-Catholic-American family, whose household was also headed by a single  mother raising seven kids in a subsidizing housing project, and were vehemently opposed to busing.  The McGoff kids, however, reacted very differently, ranging from actively resisting the Federal Court-mandated busing order, to concentrating on their athletics and being somewhat more laid back about mandatory school busing, despite not openly favoring it. 
Although Rachel Twymon, the mother of her children, was supportive of the Federal Court-ordered mandatory school edict, due to wanting a better education for her children, she began to sour on the idea when, after riding the bus up to Charlestown High School on a number of occasions and observing not only what many of the white students and their parents in Charlestown were doing in order to resist it,  but  when Rachel Twymon saw the condition of Charlestown High School, which was just as run-down and educationally as those in Roxbury, Lower Roxbury and the South End, she herself became unhappy about the whole situation.  Although the blacks and other non-white students formed a Minority Students Council for protection, and Rachel Twymon joined a Racial-Ethnic Council in the hopes that peaceful integration of the schools would take place,  that did not happen, due to white resistance from many white students and parents alike.   
Many of the boys in both families got into crime and on the wrong side of the  law, and the girls in the Twymon family not only  got into dating men much older than they were, but also got into  sex and hanging out until all hours, and the younger daughter ended up pregnant, and giving birth to a child out of wedlock, and becoming a mother at an extremely early age.  
Not only did Common Ground:  A  Turbulent Decade in the Life of Three American Families  tell about how the three families coped with Boston's school busing crisis, but this particular book also pointed out the role that the Catholic Church, The Boston School Committee headed by Louise Day Hicks, then-Mayor Kevin Hagan White, the Boston Police, and the Federal District Judge W. Arthur Garrity (who was from Worcester, MA), and the media, including the Boston Globe played in the effort to integrate Boston's public schools.  
All told, Common Ground:  A  Turbulent Decade in the Life of Three American Families is a fascinating book, which I highly recommend!   It was written in 1985, but is only available in paperback, and is still a very popular book.