Like his classic detective novel Mystic River, DENNIS LEHANE’s latest is an allconsuming

tale of revenge, family love, festering hate, and insidious force. Set

against the hot, tumultuous summer of 1974, when Boston’s desegregation of

its public schools exploded in violence, Small Mercies is a riveting depiction of

criminality and power, and an unflinching portrait of the dark heart of American

racism. Lehane will talk to PBS NewsHour’s JEFFREY BROWN about the book,

about Boston and busing, and about what history and fiction, together, can tell us

about ourselves.