The Given Day by Dennis Lehane

The Given Day: A Novel - Set in Boston after WWI Lehane depicts an America fighting among its citizens and immigrants. Workers are fighting for their rights. The bosses claim they are Bolsheviks. The blacks are being replaced in their jobs by returning white soldiers. In this arena we follow two family lives for a year.

Luther Laurence is a black man who has killed a crime boss in Tulsa. Boston is the only safe place for him so he leaves his pregnant wife until Tulsa is safe. Danny Coughlin is the son of a police captain and a rising star. A gold shield has been set as a carrot before him if he would infiltrate the local union movement and hunt down the violent radicals. Amidst the story are interwoven well known figures such as Babe Ruth, Calvin Coolidge and John Hoover.

I enjoyed the story very much. Lehane draws you into his characters lives so well that I found myself screaming at the book as if what I did could change the outcome. However, I do wish He would have his characters use less profanity.