Civil Wars Author:Rosellen Brown An idealistic couple, Teddy and Jessie Carlls, former activists in the civil rights movement in the 1960s and deeply committed to racial tolerance and equality, live with their children as virtually the only whites in a black development. When Teddy's racist sister and her husband are killed in an automobile accident, the Carlls are named as gu... more »ardians of their two children--budding racists in their own right--and the expanded family finds it necessary to move. Teddy and Jessie reluctantly move to a larger house in a white, middle-class neighborhood.
The novel focuses on Jessie's desperate efforts to help her in-laws' children adjust both to their loss and to the atmosphere of racial tolerance the children must confront in their new family.« less