Divided We Fail

October 8, 2012
Garland, a staff writer at the nonprofit education-reporting Hechinger Report, offers a nuanced and thoroughly researched look at the complicated history of school desegregation in the United States through the micro lens of the 2007 Louisville, Ky., court case that officially ended the era of forced busing and racial quotas. Looking at both the individuals affected by segregation and desegregation, Garland intersperses the narrative with historical precedent and cultural analysis, creating a rich subtext from which to assess the motivations of the parents and community members who brought the lawsuit that effectively ended the reign of enforced desegregation. Though this is her first book, Garland is unafraid to grapple with hard truths and intimate portraits of the families behind the statistics. The text is organized thematically rather than chronologically, a choice that magnifies the stakes at play for the plaintiffs. Readers will find the text more informative than politically charged, left to draw their own conclusions amid a whirlwind of evidence. Agent: Robert E. Guinsler, Sterling Lord Literistic.

October 15, 2012
A freelance journalist from Louisville, Ky., returns home to chronicle litigation that would end public school desegregation--a lawsuit filed by African-American parents on behalf of their children. Hechinger Report staff writer Garland thought it confusing at first that African-Americans would sue if the result would mean a return to all-black schools in predominantly black neighborhoods. Eventually, the author realized that long-distance busing of African-American children into Caucasian neighborhood schools did not always benefit those students, and it also often ripped the fabric of African-American neighborhoods. During the Jim Crow era, Central High School was all black and had a proud academic tradition. Because of court-ordered busing based on racial-enrollment quotas, Central ended up with a significant white student presence. Yet not all the white students desired the opportunity, and numerous black students who wanted to attend Central were denied the opportunity. Garland's narrative is filled with interesting individuals, including the previously nearly anonymous Caucasian lawyer who represented the African-American plaintiffs and the Republican-appointed Caucasian judge who defied stereotypes as he considered the complicated arguments. The author occasionally loses the narrative thread as she jumps from the Louisville situation to a broad history of school-desegregation policy. Garland also discusses her personal educational experiences in Louisville, during which she left her mostly Caucasian neighborhood each day for a long ride to a mostly African-American neighborhood. The author's back story gives the book added resonance. A useful journalistic examination of a troubling societal phenomenon.

COPYRIGHT(2012) Kirkus Reviews, ALL RIGHTS RESERVED.

February 1, 2013
Despite the intent of the Brown decision, racial politics since the landmark ruling have yielded so much resegregation of public schools as to challenge the decades-old desegregation orders that black and white parents often found dysfunctional. Education reporter Garland chronicles the little-known role of black parents in the 2007 U.S. Supreme Court ruling against the use of race in assigning students in public schools. The parents of children attending Central High School in Louisville, Kentucky, were motivated by the massive firing of black teachers and closing of traditional black schools when they failed to attract white students, whose parents opted out of the public school system. Garland, who grew up in Louisville and whose mother worked in the public schools as a social worker, offers heart-wrenching portraits of the families who suffered through the violence of desegregation and the loss of treasured community institutions, which led them to fight to end efforts in what had become a one-sided process. This is a compelling look at the complexities of race and class in the continued struggle for racial parity and high-quality education.(Reprinted with permission of Booklist, copyright 2013, American Library Association.)