Massachusetts Books

Newlyweds J.W. and Zee are off to Boston, and lo and behold, J.W. breaks up an attempted murder on the street outside the opera house. Luciano Marcus, the intended target, is greatful, and hires J.W. to track down who was after him. Could it be from his past mob ties, or somebody who will inherit his fortune if he dies? Or maybe angry Wampanoags who want the old man's cranberry bog (sacred Indian ground)?

This book has interesting side stories, and fascinating characters. And the ending scene is a thriller. A delish mystery!

as the Massachusetts ratification of the Constitution was pivotal as went the subsequent states deciding the issue. As it was, the Constitution was only ratified by 19 votes; but were it not for John Hancock's extreme vanity, and greed, it most likely would not have been ratified.

_Caveat_: As this is a reprint of the 1856 volume, it is not possible that it cites to the books listed on this page as being cited to. Who puts this database together?

This is a book detailing the entire history of a Boston neighborhood I lived in for 5 years ('89-'94). And...it's good! It's well-written, comprehensive, & thoroughly researched.

The point of the book was how the neighborhood rebounded after degenerating into one of the worst & most notorious housing projects in the country. Due to a few local businessmen dedicated to their home city & a team of local community leaders (strong-willed housewives & grandmothers, mainly), the neglected, miserable-looking brick buildings were eradicated (along with the tainted "Columbia Point" name) & smartly-designed townhouses & apartment complexes took their place. The key to it all was the fusing of considerable private funds (the local businessmen) with state & federal funds to create an attractive profit-generating mixed-income developement that would appeal to professionals while at the same time treating the poorer long-time residents as equal partners in community decisions. In addition, because of all the funding, the landscaping was greatly improved, a private security force was created, and amenities like tennis courts, a gym, & a pool were added. And as a result, Harbor Point WAS a decent place to live.

Brilliant!

Why can't ALL housing projects be redone like this?

This book is easy to read, unlike many family histories and genealogies. Mr Cummings has researched every nook & cranny of the Comins Family, even to having DNA tests done with willing male descendants.
It is more than worth the money you will pay for it!!
As one of the Family, I appluad Abbott L Cummings skill and diligence in putting together an excellent history from a mish-mash of previous (most with errors) researchers.
I'll be buying other books by this author, as will many other relatives!
ks

This was an interesting book which explains much more than who did what. It takes the time to discuss each individual so that you may better understand the phenomenon of the trials as a whole. It helps you understand how a few bored, dowarless girls could manipulate an entire town.

I have taught this book in both my introductory graduate seminar on Feminism and Rhetorical Theory and my undergraduate upper-level course on Gender and Communication at Indiana University. In both instances, *Disciplining Gender* manages to provide a text that my students find timely and accessible, as well as a text that I believe pushes them intellectually and politically. For graduate students, I beleive it offers one exemplar for how they could model a media-based dissertation; for undergraduates, the chapters provide an exemplar for how to critically examine a popular figure/event as part of broader structural stakes in U.S. public culture. In other words, the book models a type of scholarship I hope to help my students write. Overall, *Disciplining Gender* aims to question a naive optimism some derive from Judith Butler's arguments in *Gender Trouble* by asking us to re-consider when troubling gender has led to less utopian outcomes of gender terrorism (including death, assault, ostricism, and so forth). As part of a larger conversation in queer studies, Sloop's book also provides a great text for provoking class discussion about the limits of theories of social construction (as well as the possibilities) and the differences we too often blur between the categories of "sex," "gender," and "sexuality."

Discovering America is a fascinating account of one woman's growth in political awareness.It is a personal memoir that transcends the personal, branching out to become an incisive analysis of important events in recent American history. Intensely involved with a number of causes--civil rightd, women's rights, labor issues,anti-war activities--Mary Wentworth has written a book that displays both clarity and passion, a rare combination.

My husband grew up in Dorchester, MA, and has remained close with his childhood friends over 55+ years. We've had a party for the "Guys" and their gals, just after Labor Day, for the past several years. The theme for 2001 was "Dorchester". We always give out goodie bags and last year's main item was Anthony Mitchell Sammarco's book "Images of America - Dorchester". Our son had given my husband that book on his birthday the year before and he really loved it. I can't tell you how pleased our friends were when they received the same book in their gift bag. They sat around looking through them and reminiscing about places they used to know like the stores, homes, schools, churches and parks. We even had a quiz on the old neighborhood awarding prizes to the top three winners. Next month my high school, Roslindale High School, is holding their 45th reunion. For the door prize we are giving a copy of Anthony's book "Images of America - "Roslindale", which I am anxious to see myself. Hopefully, it will arrive on time. There are many books in the Images of America series of cities and towns all over our country. I'm thrilled the towns where my husband and I grew up were chosen as "Image" worthy. Well done Mr. Sammarco and thank you!

MacDiarmid's magnum opus begins in a bar. The opening lines, translated from the Scots dialect the poem is written in, go: "I'm not so much drunk as just dead tired; it's hard work upending glass after glass after glass. . . ."

The story: the speaker, drunk and trying to make his way home from the bar at the end of the night, falls down on a hilltop and rolls under a thistle bush, where he lies staring up at the moon and considering everything from Burns to Schoenberg to what his wife will say when he finally gets home. And what an adventure it is, alternately (and sometimes all at once) hilarious, moving, and profound, all the way up to the poem's mock-Hamlet ending: "Oh, I have silence left!"

"And well you might,/Or so Jean will say/After such a night."

No one who loves poetry should miss this incredible performance by MacDiarmid.

If you've read "ALL SOULS" you need to read this book too. Also, if you ever have a chance to attend a reading by Michael, GO!!!
This description was was done by the publisher...
MacDonald's first book told of the loss of the author's four siblings to the violence, poverty, and gangsterism of Boston's Irish-American ghetto. The question "How did you get out?" has haunted him ever since. This narrative of reinvention begins with the young MacDonald's first forays outside the soul-crushing walls of Southie's Old Colony housing project. In greater Boston and eventually New York's East Village, he becomes part of the club scene, providing a 1980s social history and a powerful glimpse of what punk music was for him: a lifesaving form of subversion and self-education. Yet family tragedies eventually draw him home again, to a devastating breakdown induced by trauma and guilt. He meets his father for the first time, as a corpse. Finally, two trips to Ireland, the first as an alienated young man, the second with his extraordinary "Ma," are healing journeys unlike any other in Irish-American literature.