Chapter 23-24 Summary and Analysis

The Powder Keg group renews the tradition of town meetings in Charlestown in 1974. Alice McGoff regularly attends these meetings. She has no grudges against blacks but opposes forced integration. The group is not comfortable with their treatment by City Hall, the courts, and the police so they began contacting their congressmen.

Alice takes time off from her phone company job to attend a demonstration in Washington DC. Lisa goes with her. Attendance is thin because of heavy rain. They are disappointed in the results of their meeting with Tip O'Neill. They attend a vote on an anti-busing amendment, which does not pass.

Alice cannot afford to move to the suburbs like some of her family and friends end up doing. They are also not as interested in the busing issue as she is and do not even want to...