Fiasco: The Battle for Boston

by Leon Neyfakh, Pushkin Industries (publisher)

The story of the movement to desegregate Boston’s public schools through busing—and the backlash that followed.

In 1974, a federal judge ruled that Boston’s public schools were unconstitutionally segregated. The solution? A controversial experiment in desegregation known as “busing,” which would take children from majority-white schools and bus them to predominantly Black schools, and vice versa. What followed was a year of upheaval, violence, and fierce protests, as Boston became a battleground for the heated national debate over school integration and racism in the North.

In this dramatic audiobook full of surprising twists and fascinating characters, journalist Leon Neyfakh (co-creator of the podcasts Slow Burn and Fiasco) unpacks the history of busing in Boston and brings to life the human stories behind the headlines by talking to the people who saw what happened with their own eyes. Combining historical analysis with firsthand accounts, Fiasco explores not only the impact of busing in Boston, but the larger questions about race, politics, and the struggle for equal education that continue to reverberate in America half a century later.

For a list of books, articles, and documentaries used to research The Battle for Boston, please visit bit.ly/fiascoboston.

The Battle for Boston was hosted and produced by Leon Neyfakh for Prologue Projects. The executive producer was Andrew Parsons, with reporting and production by Sam Graham-Felsen, Madeline Kaplan, Ula Kulpa, and Soraya Shockley.

Genres: Nonfiction, History, Audiobook, Education

Audible Audio

Published February 4, 2025

Reviews

[Michael Stonecipher · Rating 5 out of 5]

A well made book. when I think of segregation I think of the south. This explains that the south was surprisingly successful at school integration while some areas of the north were disastrously unsuccessful.

[Annie]

This was more like a really long podcast and not a book

[D.M. · Rating 4 out of 5]

This wasn’t really a book as much as an audio documentary. However it was quite good for what it is. I really appreciated the deep dive into 1970s Boston history. Super aggrieved white people?!? The past is the present. What was so sad about this was the way in which poor whites were pit against even poorer African Americans. May we remember that we are all made better by a better educated, more interconnected community. Oh, and Louise Day Hicks was a jerk.

[Bridget · Rating 4 out of 5]

plus the moral of the final chapter is fuck joe biden and I think that's beautiful

it's funny that he starts the book talking about how everyone thinks of boston when they think of busing because that's absolutely not the case for me. I haven't been taught any of this! not that I really expected to

[Jackie McCarthy · Rating 5 out of 5]

I listened to this as an audiobook. What an excellent telling of the 1970s school busing crisis. I loved the original media audio. I especially enjoyed learning more about MA Senator Edward Brooke, whose leadership on the policy goals of integration was inspiring, and Joe Biden’s infuriating and underreported role in the federal government’s abandonment of school integration as a policy goal.

[Christina · Rating 4 out of 5]

Great journalism. I learned a lot and they did a good job providing lots of context to better understand the nuances and complexities of bussing in Boston as well as other cities.

I took one star away because at times the timeline was. confusing and either redundant or disturbed the flow.

[Matthew Avanti Lopez · Rating 5 out of 5]

A great listen, which gives a thoughtful and fascinating history of bussing and the major players in the movement for desegregation from 1963- 1970s.

[babybat · Rating 3 out of 5]

This was really interesting and shocking that some schools are more segregated now than they were in the 1970’s.

[Noah Rosenberg · Rating 5 out of 5]

a great and journalistic overview of the busing crisis and racial segregation of boston

[J.Smitty · Rating 5 out of 5]

This was such a good audiobook to listen too!! Incredibly in depth and loved the conversations with people who were there and affected at the time.

[Nicole Reddig · Rating 4 out of 5]

Quite a listen on my way into BPS central office in Roxbury — but I am very very glad I did

[skylar · Rating 4 out of 5]

fire audiobook!! super informative, the addition of the original audio clips was great

[Mac · Rating 5 out of 5]

"Fiasco: The Battle for Boston" is marketed as an audiobook created for Pushkin Industries. In essence, it is no different from Leon Neyfakh's many excellent podcasts, including the other seasons of "Fiasco." Each chapter is the equivalent of one episode. The topic here is the battle over "busing," the shorthand name for enforcing school integration by assigning students to public schools not by neighborhood but by formulas intended to create racially balanced populations. Neyfakh goes back to the prehistory of the conflict starting from the Supreme Court's Brown v. Board of Education decision in the 1950s, through the Civil Rights movement of the 1960s, and finally to the controversial implementation of the busing policy in the early 1970s. To tell the story he mixes audio recordings from the period with modern interviews with some of the participants.

Leon Neyfakh is one of the best at this type of project. He first came to my attention with the excellent early seasons of "Slow Burn." Unfortunately for the listener, he has the habit of jumping ship to whichever new producer makes him the most attractive offer, leaving many of his projects behind various different paywalls. But his work is worth seeking out when you can access it.

One technical note: two of the chapters appeared in the wrong order, at least in the version I borrowed through my library.