Massachusetts Books

Robert Finch combed the history and literature archives to compile this definitive sampler of more than 150 Cape Cod essays, poems, and book excerpts. Only a few of the selections run longer than a dozen pages, so this is a perfect volume for browsers. The writings are grouped by topic, and Finch first provides appropriate background and explanation for each section. More than mere introductions, these summaries draw on his vast knowledge of the genre and include asides that reveal his own wry wit. Skim through these pages and you'll proceed from early settlement histories and biographies, to whaling and seafaring, to Cape Cod nature and summer vacations. My favorite episodes are about the activities of the "mooncussers" and the "wreckers" who throughout the years salvaged remnants from the inevitable shipwrecks along the dangerous coastline. (Probably more than 3000 ships have been grounded and/or lost around the peninsula's circumference since 1627.) There truly is something for everyone here. Finch thoughtfully provides mini-bios of all 67 writers and always notes sources; so if a particular entry strikes your fancy, you'll be able to track down the original work for more in-depth reading. It's difficult to imagine how "A Place Apart" could be any better!

Selections are from the following authors: Conrad Aiken ~ Timothy Alden ~ Everett S. Allen ~ Gabriel Archer ~ Josef Berger ~ Henry Beston ~ John Peale Bishop ~ William Bradford ~ John Brereton/Brierton ~ Thornton W. Burgess ~ Douglas Carlson ~ Scott Corbett ~ Monica Dickens ~ Annie Dillard ~ Mark Doty ~ Alan Dugan ~ Timothy Dwight ~ Ralph Waldo Emerson ~ Robert Finch ~ Benjamin Franklin ~ Brendan Galvin ~ E.S. Goldman ~ Adam Gopnik ~ John Hay ~ Cynthia Huntington ~ Henry James ~ Herman A. Jennings ~ E.J. Kahn, Jr. ~ Alfred Kazin ~ Helen Keller ~ Edward Augustus Kendell ~ Henry C. Kittredge ~ Stanley Kunitz ~ James Lazell ~ Clare Leighton ~ Joseph and Emily Crosby Lincoln ~ Joseph C. Lincoln ~ William Martin ~ Herman Melville ~ Thomas Merton ~ Edna St. Vincent Millay ~ Susan Mitchell ~ G. Mourt ~ Howard Nemerov ~ Nosapocket ~ Mary Oliver ~ Amos Otis ~ Jacquelyn Holt Park ~ Charles H. Philbrick ~ Marge Piercy ~ Elizabeth Reynard ~ Shebnah Rich ~ Wyman Richardson ~ George Santayana ~ Thomas Shephard ~ Roger Skillings ~ Walter Teller ~ Lewis Thomas ~ Henry David Thoreau ~ Kurt Vonnegut, Jr. ~ Mary Heaton Vorse ~ Mary-Lou Weisman ~ Richard Wilbur ~ Alec Wilkinson ~ Edmund Wilson ~ David Wojahn ~ and Ira Wood.

Sarah Kelling Bittersohn has agreed to help her Aunt Emma put on her swan song, a production of Gilbert & Sullivan's "The Sorcerer," and is happily fetching and carrying and painting flats when one of the cast, who plays the small but significant role of the notary (the Plain Old Man of the title) dies at home alone. Other disturbing events are marring the production: Emma is being threatened, and a full-length portrait of a Kelling ancestor is stolen and held for ransom.

It soon becomes clear that Charlie's death was not accidental, and Sarah must unravel all the threads of the complicated case while bearing in mind that, for Emma's sake, "the show must go on."

I thoroughly enjoyed the backstage operations of the amateur dramatic company, the references to Gilbert and Sullivan, and the delightful characters that populated this story.

I picked this book up on a whim as the title intrigued me... I am so happy I bought it. It's a great read. Some of the stories make me chuckle while others brought a tear to my eye, but everyone of them made me think a little deeper about animals and their roles as our companions, helpers and housemates. I also thought the personal stories of those involved as interwoven with the rescue added real depth to each story. I just love this book.

Roxbury, Massachusetts has a lot to be proud of with this collection of poems & poets which has been hidden on the shelves of the Boston Public Library for 18 years. Here you will find the heart's blood on what Roxbury is still about. Thank you to those who came before me and held the light so I could see the way to my being a Roxbury Power Of Example... Carol Cormwell brought this book back from the dead, she's a POWER OF EXAMPLE TOO. READ THIS AND FEEL ROXBURY MASSACHUSETTS!!!

This well-researched book serves as an excellent introduction to the rough and tumble world of Massachusetts local politics, from the Colonial period to more recent events, containing many amusing anecdotes, photographs and descriptions of the colorful political history of Massachusetts.

This book makes for a useful guide to walking along the Freedom Trail, or other places in Boston. (There is a detailed section with suggested walking tour, complete with detailed addresses for the location of various political events and locations of significance.)

Would be of interest to people with a general interest in history, as well as political junkies from within the state and beyond. Would especially be of interest to those living in Boston, or here for a visit.

It's hard to conveniently peg Political Waters: The Long, Dirty, Contentious, Incredibly Expensive, But Eventually Triumphant History Of Boston Harbor: A Unique Environmental Success Story is at once a political history of Boston and its harbor, as well as a story of urban planning and environmental success. Political Waters charts some stormy seas indeed as Boston spent literally centuries working to clean up its reputation as having one of the nation's most polluted bodies of water. Political Waters presents a semi-scholarly assessment of this process and is a highly recommended addition to Environmental Studies reference collections and reading lists.

The book is a well-written and politically informed biography of an outstanding political activist. It combines serious academic analysis, with complete citations from primary and secondary sources, with a compelling narrative of political forces operating in the 1930s, 1940s, and 1950s in the U.S and New England. Strom's book will captivate both academic and general readers with its current implications. Finally, the whole endeavor situates personal accounts of the subject and the author in ways that the personal and the political come alive! Most highly recommended.

Although Professor Bluestein establishes a new area of study called poplore, this book is not new. Rather it reflects the author's many years of study and work as a modern folklorist. His efforts to bridge the gap between committed folksinging activists and folklore should inspire considerable scholarship although I have read that the book went unnoticed by the academic folklore circles in the states. It's a shame because by reconsidering the life and work of artists such as Pete Seeger and Jean Ritchie, Bluestein reacquaints with the essence of people's song in the US context. Just as Huddie Ledbetter's opus, both in prison and beyond, served to establish an American genre in Lomax, the work of Bluestein's "poplorists" shows us how Leadbelly's legacy will live on. The introductory section on Herder, Whitman and Emerson is fascinating. This is very interesting study and I found it invaluable for my own PhD dissertation research at a Spanish university.

I first discovered Max Garland in The Carolina Quarterly and fell in love with the two poems published there from this collection. When I ordered the book from The U. of Mass. press (this was 5 years ago, before amazon)I was amazed. EVERY poem rings true. It's the kind that lifts your heart high and then gently puts it down in a better place. It has everything that most contempory poetry lacks , economy and beauty. Not a wasted word. I am honored to be the first person to have reviewed this book. My only question is "Where are you Max Garland", it's been five years already!

This book was published approx. 30 yrs. ago. Most of the factual information is current in todays energy enviroment.Property issues vs.energy/economics is somewhat the "David & Golieth"of twenty first century.