Division

Set in the late 1990s, Division opens with the physical barrier of Division Street on Chicago's north side, exploring the street's function as a north-south boundary between rival African American gangs and as a metaphor for the boundary between affluent whites and poverty-stricken minorities in the racially divided city: Division Street runs westward from the wealth of Chicago's Gold Coast to the economic desperation of Cabrini-Green's Soul Coast. The tension between these polar opposites is heightened by spreading gentrification on Division Street, and developing conflict that is exemplified in the collision between Watt-a nihilistic, intelligent, supremely dangerous rising gang leader-and Connor Riordan, a white child of privilege. Woven into the story is the complex legacy of Camp Douglas, the infamous Civil War prison where thousands of Confederate soldiers died, American slavery, and the Great Migration, set against more-personal dramas of marital betrayal and painful questions about abortion. Using these threads as the warp and weft of its tapestry, Division explores the profound divisions in our society, our past, and in our souls.