The Given Day



""...Chicago is a new city, gentlemen. The fire wiped it clean of history, of values. And New York is too dense, too sprawling, too crowded with the nonnatives. They can't maintain order, not with what's coming. But Boston... Boston is small and untainted by the new ways. Boston understands the common good, the way of things. To our fair city, gentlemen. Ah, she's a grand old broad.""

- Capt. Thomas Coughlin

"''When Jesus comes a calling, she said,

He's coming 'round the mountain on a train.''"

- Josh Ritter, "Wings"

The Given Day is a critically acclaimed novel written by Dennis Lehane in 2008. It's set in Boston around the end of World War I, a time of great political and social turbulence. A pointless war. A crappy economy. An angry populace. Workers' unions. Strikes. Corruption. Immigration. Racism. Class warfare. Terrorism. Bombs. Terrorism. Babe Ruth puking. Oh... and that's just how it starts.

The story is told from the perspective of two main characters. The first is Aiden "Danny" Coughlin, an Irish-American patrolman for the Boston Police Department. Danny's the son of Police Captain Thomas Coughlin and a rising star in the department, regularly infiltrating unions and other "subversive" organizations undercover. He is also a member of the Boston Social Club, a union of policemen right pissed over insane work hours, deplorable working conditions, and no raise in 15 years. Danny soon becomes the de facto leader of the B.S.C. and not only butts heads with the government over their rights, but members of his own family as well. As the government refuses to meet the union's demands and the union is left with ever fewer options, it isn't long before a police strike appears inevitable. Meanwhile, Danny's (not so) secretly in love with the family's Irish servant girl Nora, who has a past.

The other main character is Luther Laurence, an African-American amateur baseball player from Ohio who moves to Tulsa, Oklahoma with his pregnant girlfriend Lila. A (not quite) shotgun wedding later, they're married. In spite of Tulsa's very much true reputation as a decent city for blacks at the time (it wasn't called the "Black Wall Street" for nothing), Luther comes under the employ of a local gangster named Deacon Broscious. It isn't long before things go way downhill for him, and he is on the run. His and the other main character's paths finally cross in Boston, where his problems only get even worse.

Considered by some to be Lehane's Magnum Opus, this novel neatly manages to handle issues of terrorism, race, and class warfare without devolving into an Author Tract. Every character, real-life or fictional, is given fair treatment in regards to their perspectives and motives. It's just a matter of what characters the reader finds more sympathetic than the others.

Contains examples of:
"Thomas: Run, you wretched curs! RUN!"
 * Abusive Parent: Thomas Coughlin calls it discipline.
 * The Alcoholic: It's a poor, mostly Irish-American city, so most everyone. But especially poor Steve Coyle.
 * Angry Black Man: Mostly subverted. Aside from the black players being understandably pissed when the Red Sox players cheat repeatedly during a random game of ball, almost none of the black characters are openly angry. They just accept being the victims of a racist society as their lot in life. The omnipresent threat of being lynched, shot, or jailed doesn't help.
 * Authority Equals Asskicking: Captain Thomas Coughlin, hands down. Give him a shotgun and 

"Mayor Peters: Six?
 * Berserk Button: Just mention socialism, Communism, anarchy, or any other attempt to remedy class or racial inequalities to Ed Mckenna. Go ahead.
 * Or cuss in Thomas' house, particularly when he's drunk and angry to begin with.
 * Bittersweet Ending:
 * Complete Monster:
 * Did Not Do the Research: Despite common misconception, feminists burning their bras, garters, bloomers, or any other type of underwear never happened. Not in the '70s and definitely not in the 1910s.
 * Disproportionate Retribution: Nora
 * Dysfunction Junction: The whole Coughlin family.
 * Earn Your Happy Ending:
 * Femme Fatale: Theresa could be one.
 * Foregone Conclusion: If you don't already know the true story and don't want to be spoiled, avoid any information regarding the Boston Police Department's early history.
 * Hahvahd Yahd in My Cah: Averted. The common accents are still freshly immigrated, whether Irish, Italian, or Russian.
 * Hope Spot: The B.S.C. is granted an audience with the mayor on Christmas, which Danny attends. It looks like their demands will finally be met.
 * I Have No Son: Thomas attempts this when  It doesn't last long.
 * Inferred Holocaust: Luther's family is in Tulsa, Oklahoma. In 1919, the Greenwood neighborhood was widely known as a thriving black community, with many black-owned businesses, lavish homes, a fire department, hospitals, movie theaters, etc. It was popularly known as the "Black Wall Street"... for another two years, at least. The novel doesn't make it to 1921, but a little research into the Tulsa Race Riot will put a huge damper on the ending. Luther just cannot catch a frickin' break.
 * Karma Houdini: Basically, the higher up you are, the more you can get away with.
 * Kids Are Cruel:
 * Mood Whiplash: A few. One notably terrifying example occurs during the 1918 flu pandemic. Purely out of paranoia and shoddy medical advice, people began wearing face masks en masse for protection. At a family dinner, Danny and Connor begin laughing hysterically at how utterly ridiculous they all look. Then Connor coughs in between laughs, and his face mask starts turning red from the inside...
 * Moral Event Horizon: Possible subversion. 
 * No Holds Barred Beatdown: Pyotr Glaviach and a couple Lettish workingmen give
 * N Word Privileges: In 1919, everyone had them. No black people protested its use by whites because of its common usage and their powerless position in such interactions to make such a demand. Rope was cheap, after all.
 * Outlaw Couple: Theresa and  are the bomb-throwing, anarchist type.
 * Police Brutality: Practically the entire Boston Police Department, but Ed Mckenna deserves special mention for
 * Politically Correct History: Averted hard.
 * Precision F Strike: Joe to
 * Rape Is a Special Kind of Evil: Mayor Peters' reaction to Commissioner Curtis' damage assessment is a blatant example of this:  6 rapes. Thomas is particularly horrified by the last one.
 * Rape Is a Special Kind of Evil: Mayor Peters' reaction to Commissioner Curtis' damage assessment is a blatant example of this:  6 rapes. Thomas is particularly horrified by the last one.

Commissioner Curtis: Reported, yes.

Mayor Peters: Your estimate as to the real number?

Commissioner Curtis: (sigh) Based on uncorroborated reports from the North End and South Boston, I'd place the number in the dozens. Thirty, let's say.

Mayor Peters: Thirty."

"Nora: You weren't wrong. You did the only thing you could. It's just...
 * Revenge Before Reason: Police Commissioner Edwin Curtis. Oh, so much. The entire reason he decides to stick it to the B.S.C.'s quite reasonable complaints is payback for all the crap he had to take during his tenure as mayor.
 * Sadistic Choice: The B.S.C.'s given a pretty nasty one by their own government. Continue making demands for fair pay, safe and sanitary working conditions, and more reasonable working hours that their superiors are ignoring again and again or

Danny: Just what?

Nora: They made it so that the only choice you had left was the one sure to doom you."


 * Most every working occupation at the time was facing this: Workers demanding their rights as human beings and not being listened to, let alone met, or go on strike and lose their jobs.
 * Through abuse of power, Lieutenant Ed Mckenna forces one on
 * The Scapegoat:
 * Every last Boston policeman
 * Shown Their Work: Lehane's research mentions events that even historical texts tend not to discuss. Almost all historical portrayals condemn Mayor Peters' handling of the  while praising Governor Coolidge's actions, even crediting it with winning him the Presidency. Very rarely is his incompetence - or political savvy - during said events ever mentioned.
 * The bombing of the Salutation Street police station is also hardly ever mentioned, and the site of the station doesn't even have a marker, which is unusual considering how liberally Boston tends to mark historical sites.
 * Sliding Scale of Idealism Versus Cynicism: Cynical. Hoo, boy!
 * Took a Level In Badass: Mayor Peters spends most of the book a pathetic excuse for a mayor, letting everyone else make the important decisions while he's on vacation screwing his 14-year-old cousin! Even when he finally owns up to his responsibilities, Governor Coolidge obviously thinks little of him and repeatedly interrupts him during negotiations with Commissioner Curtis to prevent a probable police union strike.
 * What the Hell Hero: Danny and the entire B.S.C. get a lot of hell for  It's left up to the reader whether they did the right thing or not.
 * Young Future Famous People: At one point a young Justice Department agent by the name of John Hoover appears. Guess which agency he went on to found.
 * Young Future Famous People: At one point a young Justice Department agent by the name of John Hoover appears. Guess which agency he went on to found.