Monumental

If you want to start an argument in a crowd of relatively older people, bringing up the subject of school busing might do it. There were few hotter buttons to touch back in the 1970's, as children were bussed around their towns in several instances as courts sought ways to achieve integration in school systems.

The most famous -- actually, infamous might be a better word -- case came in Boston. The city almost blew apart in that span. The demonstrations and violent incidents sparked by busing are still remembered today.

It's a pretty big subject for a book. J. Anthony Lukas did it justice with his 1985 volume, "Common Ground." As he goes through the 655 pages, he reveals how school busing seemed to affect and ruin everything it touched ... and it touched almost every aspect of life in Boston.

Lukas' main focus is on three Boston families. There are the Divers, traditional Yankee liberals who are filled with idealism and are determined to make a difference. Colin Diver worked in the mayor's office after finishing at Harvard, and learned how lofty ideas and goals aren't worth much unless people know how to put them into practice.

There's the Twymons, a black family reliant on welfare and public housing. Rachel Twyman watches her children be bussed to Charlestown, and then sees them and the rest of the family slowly and painfully break apart, headed for a life in the streets.

Finally, there are the McGoffs, an Irish family in Charlestown. Widow Alice has seen life get more and more difficult in the economically battered area, and to her busing is the last straw. She takes part in anti-busing demonstrations that turn her neighborhood into something close to a battlefield.

The three families are profiled over the course of a decade or so, allowing for time to see their situations evolve. Lukas also takes a look at some other, more public personalities, such as the Mayor, the leader of the Catholic Church, the judge who ordered the busing, a newspaper editor and a political leader of anti-busing forces. It's fair to say they all come out of the process tainted in some way.

This books works because of the amount of effort Lukas puts into it. The families must have been exceedingly frank for a long, long period of time; I'll bet they were tempted to tell Lukas, "Can you leave us alone now?" Lukas was known for his obsessive work. He mailed his last book (not this one) into the publisher after finally completing it, and then committed suicide. It works here for those willing to tackle it.

And it's also relevant today. You could argue that our cities are still feeling the effects of busing -- the middle and upper classes have been bolting for the suburbs, taking a good chunk of the city's tax base with them and leaving the school system to the poor. We still haven't figured out how to handle this one.

I'm sure many people didn't like this book when it came out. Lukas has held a mirror up to a town in the midst of serious troubles, and the reflection doesn't match people's perceptions and thus enrages them. Still, I can't imagine a better job on the subject, and after reading it I understand why "Common Ground" won so many awards and is considered a classic in its field.