Uncertain Politics and Unlikely Romance

during a Turbulent Time, 1964-1975

Author Durham Caldwell has invented the Massachusetts town of Riverbridge. But he’s populated it with familiar characters, and the events they grapple with are right out of yesterday’s headlines: the Goldwater movement, the upheaval caused by urban renewal, protests over the Vietnam War that bring fisticuffs between opposing sides, a sit-down led by a college president, friction between police and the black community, civil rights vigils, and the decade-long fight to end de facto segregation in inner-city schools. 


Caldwell knows his Massachusetts politics and politicians. He’s covered them for broadcast and print outlets for more than half a century. His book’s central figure, TV newsman Buzz Buckley, has to cope not only with the competition but also with the moral myopia of a station owner aligned with the city’s big shots and the distractions of a rollicking, Rabelaisian romance with an old high school sweetheart and a growing fondness for his politically ambitious city councilor daughter-in-law. 


Among the fictionalized versions of things that really happened: a news director called on the carpet during the height of the civil rights movement because the percentage of “black news” stories he was covering was out of proportion to the number of African-Americans in his TV station’s coverage area; “we can't consider adding minorities to our news department because it might offend our advertisers”; “they’re calling us ‘the nigger station’ because we’re broadcasting so many stories about civil rights and the black community.” 





ELEMENTS OF THE BOOK

ROMANCE AND HISTORY IN THE MAKING: Walking down the aisle of the airplane flying him to San Francisco to cover the Republican National Convention, Buzz feels a tug on his sleeve. He looks down into a vaguely familiar face. It belongs to Marsha Antonelli, whom he hasn't seen in more than 20 years. In San Francisco, Buzz gets caught up in the excitement of the Convention. He and Marsha see little of each other until they end up in the same dinner party during the convention's final night.


Buzz’s tumultuous affair with Marsha survives geographic separation, political differences, Buzz’s bouts with his conscience, and even the unanticipated early arrival home of Marsha's philandering husband. When it unexpectedly founders, Buzz is increasingly drawn in a very unfather-in-law-like way to daughter-in-law to Judy Ferguson.


THE LOCAL POLITICAL ESTABLISHMENT: As colorful a bunch of characters as you'd expect to find in a multi-ethnic New England city: The Mayor, Big Jim McCann, the man who broke the Republican monopoly on City Hall right after the war; City Councilor Rowdy Hennessy, the mayor’s boyhood chum; Domenico DiTotola, alias Mr. DDT, “real poison” in the mayor’s opinion; the council president, Max Feigenson, for whom bigger responsibiliites lie ahead; the belle of the council, Judy Ferguson; wealthy industrialist M.B. "Money Bags" Jardine; his spokesman on the City Council, Silent Joe DeRosier; the voice of conservatism on the School Committee, Lucille Cournoyer; and the voice of conservatism in the business community, Myra Heywood.


THE CIVIL RIGHTS ESTABLISHMENT: The NAACP president, the Rev. Dr. James Shoemaker; the husband/wife militants, Bobby & Lenora Clark; and Urban League director Jim Foster. 


BUZZ'S COLLEAGUES AT BAKER BROADCASTING: Station owner H.B. Baker ; veteran anchor-man Jerry Finnerty; the boss's shapely secretary, Linda Kokoski, known around the station as "the Employee Benefits”; the cigar-chomping sales manager, Hy Golden; and the market's first African-American reporter, Whitney Garland. 

RACIAL TENSIONS: Like many Northern cities, Riverbridge in the postwar years has a growing African-American population. Newsman Buzz is right in the middle of covering the issues that arise, especially the questions about the city and its schools — leading to tensions with station management.

CAMEO APPEARANCES — by Richard Nixon, Elliot Richardson, Senator Leverett Saltonstall, Silvio Conte, Larry O'Brien, Ted and Joan Kennedy, Mass. Senate President Mossie Donahue, and three Massachusetts governors — add to the novel’s historical perspective.





How to order

You may order “Tumultuous Affairs” through AMAZON.COM. Or, if you want a signed copy, postpaid in the U.S., send check for $14.95 to Durham Caldwell, 15 Ashland Ave., Springfield, MA 01119-2701. Massachusetts residents add 93 cents for sales tax. Specify any special instructions for signing. 


Massachusetts shoppers will also find “Tumultuous Affairs” on the shelves at The Odyssey in South Hadley and the Noble & Cooley Gift Shop in Granville, Mass.




Note: Along with lots of history, romance, and humor, “Tumultuous Affairs” also contains adult situations and some coarse language.

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Email: tumultuousaffairs@comcast.net 

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Check out Durham Caldwell's newest novel, “Betty Sue’s Homecoming and Her Rocky Path to Respectability.”

COPYRIGHT 2012 DURHAM CALDWELL