Massachusetts Books

A very intriguing account of the revolution before the revolution. This is the story of the many small risings and the build up of the local militias and opposition to Britain before Lexington and Concord. An unknown history that is rarely explained in history books. Very fascinating reading this book will be of interest to those scholars of the American revolution and America in general. A much needed addition to understanding the history of the `shot heard round the world' that brought about American independence and thus the first independent colony from Europe.

Seth J. Frantzman

Near the end of this book, the author makes the following statement......

"At Lexington, professional British soldiers fired at a handful of local farmers. This act of violence, allegedly perpetrated by the enemy, gave the Americans the moral high ground and helped mobilize support. The story had been repeated so often that it has effectively muffled the revolution of the preceding year. Leaderless, ubiquitous, and bloodless, the first transfer of political authority from the British to Americans has not been able to compete. It was not lacking as a revolution, it has only lacked an audience to comprehend and appreciate it."

Hopefully this book will help to provide the audience this neglected episode of American History deserves.

Mr. Raphael has done us a wonderful service in putting forth his research into the rebellion that took place in Worcester, Massachusetts in 1774. The "first American Revolution." He builds an impressive case not only for what took place, but also for the possible reasons why this rebellion has not received the recognition it is due. He even refers to what followed at Lexington and Concord as a "counterrevolution" on the part of the British government in an attempt to regain the colony they had already lost.

Examining what lead up to the British establishment of the Massachusetts Government Act, the response of the local farmers to it, how it spread throughout the rural communities of Massachusetts, and the resulting confrontation that came just under a year later at Lexington and Concord, the author gives factual backing to the belief that people can indeed work together without requiring "leaders" or some hierarchical structure to ensure success.

In general, people like to have individuals to hold on to when studying the past. For some this perhaps relieves them from feeling the need to take personal responsibility for their own lives. I have often heard folks say the reason they do not attend local governmental meetings - such as city council, or county commissioner meetings, is that they "elected" these officials to do the work so they wouldn't have to. It is also a bit easier to blame such individuals when things go wrong. Some of us also convince ourselves (or get the message from those who are more comfortable if we remain docile and obedient servants) that we do not have the stuff to make a difference like someone famous could or can.

This is not the story of specific individuals, even though you will learn of people you most likely have never heard of before, neither is it about a faceless mob. These were individuals who saw beyond personal celebrity status and came together with the full intention of their rebellion being based in "the body of the people." Something folks from the whole spectrum of political thought seem to suggest is sorely needed in Washington, DC today. (I happen to agree.)

Or as Mr. Raphael puts it....

" The telling of history cries out for individual protagonists. If an isolated hero or leader doesn't emerge naturally, we try to invent one. In this case, however, none could even be conjured. There was no one person, not even a small group, who could have made the Revolution of 1774 any more or less than it was. This revolution was conducted by and for the participants, giving it both power and legitimacy."

and..........

" Without entrenched leaders, there could be no chain of command. The people of each locality, although communicating with each other through their committees of correspondence, received no orders from a central authority. They did develop some shared motifs - - most notably, forcing officials to recant while passing through the ranks, hats in hand - - but the local groups operated without any coordinating body to plot a strategy or plan the various confrontations."

and finally........

" The Massachusetts Revolution of 1774 was not only decentralized but thoroughly ubiquitous. Both temporally and geographically, it lacked concrete definition. It simply erupted, everywhere and whenever. It has been as confusing, perhaps, to students of history as it was to Governor Gage, who had no idea how to respond. "

It was indeed quite confounding to folks such as Lord Dartmouth who.......

"...........found it difficult to believe that Governor Gage had lost out to ' a tumultuous Rabble, without any Appearance of general Concert, or without any Head to advise, or Leader to conduct.' Dartmouth failed to comprehend the power of the people to act in their behalf, and even today, the revelation that ordinary people, ' without any Head to advise,' toppled the British-controlled government in Massachusetts engenders blank, incredulous states."

Anyone who believes you MUST have clearly identified leaders and a hierarchical structure in order to accomplish something will be challenged by the history told in this book. Those who sometimes feel there is little chance of changing those things which they believe to be wrong with their government will perhaps find hope within these pages. At the very least, the reader will be made much more aware of a chapter of American History that up until now has received far less recognition then it deserves.

One final note.......

For anyone that might be wondering about the author's understanding of how women, Africans (slave or free), and indigenous peoples were involved and effected by the American Revolution, I highly recommend Mr. Raphael's previous book : A People's History of The American Revolution - 2001 - also by The New Press. The two, read together, serve as an excellent introduction or review of the War of Independence.

My brother loaned me his copy. We frequently exchange books, but when he asked for the return of this particular one, I identified it among the others as "The Great Book." (This was a spontaneous utterance made during a walk, but I thought about it for a long time afterwards, why I had so described it.)

This is a powerful, disturbing, and beautiful work. It is the sort of book that, after reading a few paragraphs and even sometimes a single sentence, you find yourself with your eyes off the page, wondering at what you have just read, trying to picture it, trying to understand how such remarkable people could have given birth to such a disappointing nation.

There is a spirit somewhere here, I guess, that we should have inherited. I don't know that we have.

A well-researched and finely written account of the people's revolution in Massachusetts in the years before Lexington and Concord.

Raphael recounts the people's rising anger towards the Crown because of the Massachusetts Goverment Act (1774). This act, which allowed the King to appoint officials instead of allowing the citizens to elect them, turned the people against the Crown. Through acts of civil disobedience, illegal conventions, and threats against appointed officials, the people of Massachusetts effectively took control of their government from the British.

This is a great book that focuses on an aspect of the Revolution that is usually ignored or lightly touched on in any History class or book about the Revolution. It shows that the Revolution was started and won by ALL the people of America, not just Washington, Jefferson, Adams, etc.....

Highly Recommended!

The author made this book easy to read. He broke down all the chaos in a manner that anyone can enjoy and understand. You learn about what was going on prior to General/Governor Gage sending British troops to Concord. After reading this book about the farmers and artisans of Western Massachusetts getting together and overthrowing British authority you realize why the British had to head for Concord rather than Worcester. As someone who lives in the area and is a Revolution buff, this book is a valuable piece of history. I hope that more such books by any historians are forthcoming and that the history books don't forget...

Insightful account of one young soldier's Civil War experience. His experiences as a prisoner were riveting and heartbreaking....you believed you were alongside of him. Editor did a wonderful job of including historical context. It was terrific!

I wish there were more diaries from soldiers written as well as this one. Hitchcock had a flair for writing and describing his events as a soldier very well. Hitchcock diary takes the reader on a long journey from enlisting in summer of 1862 to his final discharge in December of 1864. Throughout the journey Hitchcock brings to life the daily soldier grind, picket duty, camp life, fighting, being captured and the tough life of being a prisoner at Andersonville. I found the several chapters on Andersonville to be the most interesting in the book as it acts as a great resource of information for daily life at the prison. Hitchcock's daily diary writing is usually quite short and he doesn't write long narratives as compared to other soldier accounts. Sometimes I had wished he had written more details on the fighting, although his explanations of the fighting during the battle of Cold Harbor were very descriptive and I could easily vision the horrors. In other situations, Hitchcock was brief about his experiences at Fredericksburg in 1862 although he didn't see much fighting there. His best work on that subject came about from descriptions of the city and the hardships endured there. Overall, this book is an excellent source of information for those seeking insight about soldier life in the Civil War and books like this are priceless.

Few books have captured my interest and emotion as this one...a young man tells his personal tale of the Civil War ~ revealing his code of ethics, bravery, love of country, and the horrors of war. The editor provides an excellent backdrop with well-researched, newly-revealed historical data about the war. A MUST read!

George Hitchcock had a talent for describing the country side and people. His journal is a fascinating, personal account of bravery and adventure of a soldier during the Civil War: a descriptive story of suffering, courage and endurance - sometimes in situations of mismanagement and confusion.

I found "From Ashby to Andersonville" a particulary moving and interesting book. The experiences of the civil war private who wrote the original diary encompass a remarkable amount of the war, both East and West. The tale told is rich in the real human drama of that life in all its day to day trials and tribulations and occasional joys. Editor Ron Watson keeps the reader oriented by insightful forwards to each chapter establishing the context of the place and time. From it I have a much better sense of the ebb and flow of that great war. Few books do I plan to re-read, but this is one of those.

This book is a major contribution to its field. It contains important details that are missing from many of the previous works on the subject of the famine. The scholarship is sound and is often based on primary sources that have never been examined in this context before. The data are consistently compelling, fresh, and well documented. . . Any college with an Irish studies program will find the book indispensable. (Mary Ellen Cohane, Massachusetts College of Liberal Arts)

As a contributor to this volume on the Great Famine in Ireland, I think that this book makes an important contribution to the historiography of the Famine insofar as it may be the only volume to trace the linkage between the U.S. and Ireland during that tragic era. Neil Hogan, author of THE CRY OF THE FAMISHING, Connecticut Irish-American Historical Society.

This book is a major contribution to its field. It contains important details that are missing from many of the previous works on the subject of the famine. The scholarship is sound and is often based on primary sources that have never been examined in this context before. The data are consistently compelling, fresh, and well documented. . . Any college with an Irish studies program will find the book indispensable. (Mary Ellen Cohane, Massachusetts College of Liberal Arts)

As a contributor to this volume on the Great Famine in Ireland, I think that this book makes an important contribution to the historiography of the Famine insofar as it may be the only volume to trace the linkage between the U.S. and Ireland during that tragic era. Neil Hogan, author of THE CRY OF THE FAMISHING, Connecticut Irish-American Historical Society.

A fascinating collection of essays that reveals, often in unexpected ways, the effects of the Irish famine on both sides of the Atlantic. Ranging from the loss of life to the loss of music among the Irish peasantry, from the pages of the Dublin University Magazine to the pages of American newspapers, from Chef Alex Soyer's famine soup to the famine graves at Grosse Ile, from Irish memory to Irish American rage, this scholarly but readable book provides us with the broadest understanding of this far-reaching event. (William H. A. Williams, author of 'Twas Only an Irishman's Dream)

This book captures - visually and through the written word - the untold story of so many of our nation's workers without whom our greatest institutions would exist on much weaker foundations. Greg Halpern - through the lens of his camera and the words of the workers he met and befriended - poignantly illustrates the unfortunate plight of so many workers who give so much to their jobs but whose jobs and employers give so little to them. This is a must-read, must-view book for anyone who cares about the state of our nation's workforce. This book is a wonderful way to pay homage to the amazing people who are the true, yet tragically invisible, backbone of Ivy League institutions like Harvard.

This is a poignant look at the people who are invisible (up until now), who are the backbone of the infrastructure of Harvard. The picture on the cover tells it all: proud, yet ignored by those who she serves. This is an important work of art and protest.

For those of you who thought that documentary photography was boring, think again. Greg Halpern brings stunning inner life to the portraits in this book. The early rave reviews in the New York Times and the Boston Globe are dead on -- this kid has serious talent and it translates into one of the most memorable photo books that I have seen in years. I bought several copies of this first edition for friends and family and I have no doubt that these books will one day be collectors' items. For those of you who are photo buffs, and even for those of you who are not, this book is a must have!

This book is long overdue. Listening to the NPR show "The Connection" I became aware that the forces that resulted in this book have actually brought about some change at Harvard...why did it take a public humiliation of Harvard to do what they should have done all along...In any case the book has beautiful and sensitive photographs coupled with startling interviews that everyone should read....

I've been waiting for this book to come out ever since I read a review in the New York Times book review. It was worth the wait. I found it to be thought provoking, informative as well as a glimpse into the lives of service workers. Regardless of your political persuasion, this book deserves to be read. I thought that the author did a remarkable job presenting the facts behind the Living Wage Campaign. I could not put the book down once I started reading it and the people profiled in the book stayed with me. Read this book!

Joyful Noise is back in print! Yeah! I've become a regular to the area of Massachusetts where the book is set, and this book was great summer reading for me. It's a wonderful story about all the characters of her family, and their adventures. Beautifully written.

My family and I discovered this book on a summer vacation in Cape Cod. Ever since, whenever we've found it at used book sales we've snapped it up to give to friends. Warm, hilarious, endearing, inspiring (to parents hoping to create the same quality of memories for their own children), this book, though set in the 1920s and very much a part of that era, is in its depiction of family relationships, timeless.

One of my favorite memories is of my father, a dignified man, now deceased, attempting to read aloud to me a section dealing with Pop and the Reader's Digest... he was chuckling so hard he was hoarse and had to stop and wipe tears from his eyes. (Twelve years later I can still see him.)

Buy this book and dive in for a wonderful read.

When Aunt K forgets that there's not a horse in front of the car and drives off the road, I laughed out loud. This special look into Janet Gillespie's time spent at her grandmother's home in Westport Point, MA is delightful. Stories of sailing to the mudflats to hunt for clams, unforgettable special breakfasts and funny visitors from the city are told so you see clearly an era gone by - a time when summers - and bare feet - went on forever. What a happy childhood!

My grandmother wrote this book and I believe it is a gem! She has a wonderful story telling ability and an amazing ability to recall her happy childhood. Her sense of humor is evident throughout the book. One of my favorite chapters refers to her trip to the church bazaar to purchase Christmas presents for her parents and her brothers. She was so joyful in her purchases - presents to which she gave a great deal of thought. I have shared this book with several of my friends and have always recieved rave reviews. If you get ahold of a copy of it - hang onto it! It is a treasure.

I logged on to see if there's an excerpt of this wonderful book, so I could send it to all my family and friends online. I am only 60 pages into it - because the copy I bought for my husband has been out of loan constantly! We love Westport so I thought my husband was biased in saying this was a great book as he laughed out loud, but once again, he is SO right! Read this book if you love to see the humor in family relationships!

The Marble Kite, by David Daniel, is the fourth in a series of mysteries which involve private investigator Alex Rasmussen. The plot is situated in the mostly-blue-collar city of Lowell, Massachusetts, an old mill town on the banks of the Merrimack River.

Troy Pepper is a carnival roustabout who is accused of murdering the woman he loved. He was raised in an orphanage, and through his life of solitude and rejection has lost his trust in people. He makes no effort to defend himself. Alex, perhaps from having experienced his own share of solitude and rejection, is determined to prove Pepper's innocence.

The book is filled with images of the downtrodden and the unspoken heroes of working-class America, which include: an old man that Rasmussen sees through a hotel doorway who is sitting on his bed in his underwear, staring at nothing; a woman who takes care of her elderly mother who is in the final stages of Alzheimer, who tells Alex "...eventually each of us ends up in the cemetery, flying a marble kite"; a black jazz guitarist who sacrifices his profession to save his drummer; a southeast Asian 14-year-older who lands in the hospital after trying to quit a gang; and waitresses "... on tired feet, looking for a snug harbor, however temporary, and some companionship to share the lonely stretches after a long shift..."

The plot weaves nicely, and Lowell is portrayed vividly as you follow Rasmussen through the streets, mills, and office buildings.

Very gripping mystery. Keeps you guessing until the end and then a surprise! Very fun. You really feel for these charactors. I highly recommend it.

David Daniel continues to thrill readers with intelligent stories, crisp prose, and intriguing characters. Marble Kite is no exception--the carnies are fascinating and PI Alex Rasmussen as sharp as in Daniel's earlier novels. A great read.

David Daniel continues to please with Alex Rasmussen Mystery series. His latest, The Marble Kite is his finest, in fact. Set entirely in the hardscrabble Industrial Revolution town of Lowell Mass, Marble Kite is edgier that its predecessor, Goofy Foot. At once, this is a gripping whodunit and a great police story. PI Alex Rasmussen effectively weaves his way through the mean streets and bars of the low-rent (and fascinating) Acre section of Lowell in route to solving his most problematic case.

Daniel is particularly impressive developing the characters, especially Nicole and Pop. You can visualize what they might look and sound like through his words. While PI Alex Rasmussen is not as testosterone fueled as Parker's Spenser, he is certainly as quick-witted and tough enough. Daniel's good karma comes through in spades and it shows in Alex's moral fiber.

In addition, the ambiance of Marble Kite is a cut above most PI Mystery novels. At one point, as Alex is nursing a beating and contemplating why he should continue on the case while his life is failing apart around him, you can almost hear Gil Scott Heron's Pieces of a Man playing in the background.

Daniel has developed into a first-rate storyteller and Marble Kite is a top-notch mystery. Just in time for the real carnival coming to the Regatta.

In Lowell, Massachusetts, private investigator Alex Rasmussen is enjoying his fourth date with Phoebe Kelly at a carnival. He is on the verge of winning her a stuffed animal when a scream occurs. Dropping the mallet, Alex rushes to the locale of the shriek only to find a small growing crowd surrounding a dead woman.

The next day local attorney Fred Meecham informs Alex that the carnival owner Pop Sondry hired him to represent the prime suspect in last night's carnival murder Troy Pepper. The lawyer further explains that Pop is convinced that his employee is innocent. Fred hires Alex to make inquiries into Troy, the victim Flora Nunez, and other carnival employees. Alex puts aside his insurance work to conduct a field investigation into the murder of Flora.

THE MARBLE KITE is an entertaining regional private investigative tale starring a delightful protagonist. Alex seems very realistic as he is a bit annoyed that his date was ruined just when he is just getting back into the scene having been divorced, waiting for a reconciliation and finally watching his ex remarry and have someone else's child. The who-done-it is cleverly devised so that the audience wonders why Pop thinks Troy is innocent as the circumstantial evidence points heavily towards him. David Daniel provides a fabulous murder mystery that will send newcomers seeking previous starring roles of Alex (see GOOFY FOOT).

Harriet Klausner

Highly recommended series. I recommend as an alternative to the Little House series for boys. Well written.

Another inspiring account of the Moody fanily. This time the scene is Massachusetts. The earlier books were set in the American West. Mary Emma is the mother of the clan. She is determined that her family will make its own way in life. She gets a job in a sweatshop to learn how to do fancy laundering. Ralph works at a store in his spare time. Almost all of the children do something to help earn a living.At school Ralph gets in trouble for things that wouldn't have mattered in Colorado. The younger children are seen more in this book than they were previously. Grace is now a young lady who is tempted to put on airs. The whole family's work ethic stands out as refreshing compared to many young folks of today. Their grit and determination are to be admired. I recommend the reading of this book by any one of any age.

As a forth grader in Colorado our teacher read the first two books in Ralph Moody's series to our class. Now, almost 30 years later I'm reading the whole series to my family, we love them. Even our 3 year old asks me to read them at bed time.

Mr. Moody's descriptions and the story of his life are more than touching and heartwarming, they are important lessions in morality, life and love. You cannot help but fall in love with young Ralph, his independant mother, and all the rest of her children.

You will laugh and cry as this young cowboy and his family make a new home in Boston. Starting with almost nothing, through hard work the whole family pitches in to make their own way. Rich with history, this book is about life, both the good parts, as well as the bad and how one young man, lived it (mistakes and all).

Even if you don't think you like reading, try these books. They will change your mind.

This, the fourth volume in Ralph Moody's reminiscences, picks up immediately after the close of "Man of the Family." It's January, 1912, and widowed Mary Emma Moody, unwilling to give testimony that may send an innocent man to the gallows, has fled Colorado with her six children, of whom the eldest are Gracie, almost 15, and Ralph, 13, to the suburbs of Boston, where her brother Frank and his family live. Crammed into Frank's two-bedroom apartment, her first priority is to find quarters they can afford to rent, followed by work at which to earn a living--taking in laundry, since she's already used to that. Obstacles soon arise: rents are far higher in Massachusetts than in Colorado, and Mary Emma has to learn a whole new style of ironing when it becomes obvious that she'll have to do fine washing for families rather than hotel curtains. But Ralph soon finds part-time work in a neighborhood store, which leads the family, before long, to the rental of half an old Victorian house and a windfall of a houseful of furniture to go in it for only $50. Then there's a neglected furnace and leaky water pipes to struggle with, and pickups and deliveries to make in the midst of a blizzard, and the question of affordable coal. But with help from Uncle Frank and Great-Uncle Levi (a delightful and vividly-described character), along with Ralph's employers and his new friends among the neighborhood boys, their first five months in their new home end on an upbeat note as they celebrate May Day with an avalanche of baskets for Gracie--and one for Mary Emma from her "best lover," second son Philip.

Moody's trademark humor and vivid description is the hallmark of this book, especially when he tells of Frank and Levi's pitch-in to renovate the cellar laundry room and the bridge fire which ends by gifting the Moodys with a huge load of saleable kindling wood. His ongoing enmity with his school principal, who seems to have prejudged him a "bad boy," and his seesaw relationship with Cop Watson, who alternately warns him to take care and assists him and his friends with their wood-salvage operation, are other high points, as is the night sledding expedition to the old clay-pit where Gracie--often depicted as bossy and high-toned--forgets for a while that she's growing up and originates a daring "circle route." It's a bit disappointing that he gives little attention to what must have been a wrenching change in his life (after four years in the West he has come to think of himself as a kind of apprentice cowboy), but on balance, the story is a fascinating and inspiring one.

This book is one of Ralph's great. The Moody Family goes through lot's off hardships after leaving Colorado.

It made it very easy to find where the lighthouses are located and a nice article on each one.

On medium-weight, semi-glossy paper, this beautiful and durable map folds out to approximately 2 feet by 3. On one side is a three-color highway map of the coasts of Massachusetts and New Hampshire, inlaid with paragraphs on several of the lighthouses and framed by watercolor pictures of each. The reverse side describes all 50 Massachusetts lighthouses, standing or not, and both New Hampshire's. The descriptions give a short history, the optimal viewing spot, directions, contact information, hours of operation, transportation options, etc.

If you are interested in lighthouses, Massachusetts or New Hampshire, shipping or maps, you will probably love this great map. Travellers will find it indispensable. What a bargain!

No traveller in search of Massachusetts' lighthouses should be without this extremely useful map. Beautiful watercolor illustrations too!

This map and guide covers lights in both MA and NH. In June of 2000 I used this map to visit Lighthouses in MA & NH. This map was very useful. On one side is a map pointing out the locations. On the other side there are details for each individual light such as: directions, hours, and phone numbers. I am from Michigan so I was not familiar with New England at all. Some of these lights were hard to find even with the map because some roads are not clearly marked. But I did find everything I was looking for. The price of these maps is an incredible bargain. Some people buy two of them so they can hang one on the wall to display the watercolor images and get another to use.

This was a great resource in locating lighthouses - compact, yet gives specific directions on which lighthouses could be visited and how to get there. Very nice layout, design, pictures, etc.

Great book for those visiting or moving to Boston. A bit large to carry around.

This atlas has excellent maps of Boston and suburban communities. It was a big help on my recent trip to the Boston area. The main distraction is it's a book of individual town maps colated alphabetically. As you drive across the area, you have to page between different maps in the book, and I couldn't find coverage of two spots that fell between towns. I find it easier to use an atlas laid out on a grid system like the San Diego County Street Guide published by Thomas. There is a guide map showing the grid making it easy to find the page to go to. As you travel east or west, you just turn the page for a continuation of the map. North-south travel is a bit more difficult; you have to look at the top or bottom of the page for the page number to go to next. DeLorme atlases are designed this way, too. The Metro Boston Atlas has some page number references to adjoining maps, but many are missing.

American Map consistently produces the best atlases (ADC's atlases are ususally a close second), and this is incontestably the best available resource for navigating the streets of Boston and its suburbs. The Boston area is intelligently divided here into maps for each of the city's neighborhoods and outlying communities, and the detail is rich and reliable throughout. But the best aspect of this atlas, like any other from American Map, is the clarity and simplicity it achieves in spite of its detail. Highly recommended.

I purchased this book for my son who is moving to Salem, Mass., from Michigan in August 2006. He took it with him when he went apartment hunting and said it was "a great help." He also used it to explore Boston. He found it to be very detailed. He liked the fact that it is spiral bound, staying open easily on the needed page. For myself, I found the print just a tad too small, but being 52, my eyesight is not what it was... My son did not find this a problem. In fact, he felt that with bigger print, the book would be increased in size unfavorably.

If you're going to Boston and don't know you're way around, you will need this book. You will need to sit down and really look at it, and then keep it with you. If you get lost, don't try and use logic or common sense to unravel your path. Just pull over and get your map out, and make a plan before you try and inch your way back into traffic.

This has got to be the most user-unfriendly town in America. If you are not from here, good luck trying to get around. Even my buddy with GPS gets lost because the thing cannot react fast enough, and doesn't know how to convey directions such as "stay in the left lane, lane markings will disappear and reappear later on slightly different planes, but stay left because the road will suddenly split, but then immediately take a left turn, but not the first left but the slightly more obtuse left turn radiating from just ten yards further down the street." If you a make a mistake, do not imagine for a moment that you can fix it easily. You can go on unimaginable adventures just trying to turn around. For example, if you want to make a left on to Mass Ave from Somerville road, well, you just can't, but that shouldn't be a big deal, you just make a right and find a place to turn around. However, you will literally drive from city to city before you find a place to turn around. I know everybody thinks their own town is eccentric, but Boston is hands down the most passive-aggressive city to newcomers or visitors. Streets change names multiple times in a short stretch, have different names on different sides of the street, all while multiple streets will have the same name. Which is all irrelevant because if you are fortunate enough to see a street sign, it is probably too late to react to it. People here don't seem phased by it, they are often surprised to find out that other cities are laid out in a grid, where the streets hit each other at right angles, four corners only per intersection, and you can actually point yourself in the direction of where are going and find your way there with reason and will alone.

These maps are a nice guide for pedestrians too. And, actually, walking is the easiest way to get around Boston. The challenge of course for pedestrians would still be the Boston drivers. If the cars do stop before hitting you, the drivers will give you a look that let's you know that you've been fortunate. It's a look that says, "I'm not going to hit you with my car, but please understand that this is a choice I have made, at great sacrifice. Your life is henceforth a privilege I've granted you."

One more little thing that complicates getting around Boston. Let's do this in the form of a quiz. Give your best guess at how to pronounce the following neighborhoods: Berlin, Billerica, Cochituate, Leicester, Leominster, Peabody, Woburn, Worcester. Aren't you silly, where y'from, Iowa?

Though I normally don't read many detective mysteries, I read this one by my friend, law professor Jack Dobbyn. The action moves, the humor is wry, and the book is well plotted and well written. Set in Boston, it offers fascinating information on the tongs that terrorize chinatowns in many American cities. A great read.

First Sentence: Suppose you were to wake up one Monday morning to a promising, amber sun rising out of Boston Harbor.

Michael Knight is a young attorney in a very prestigious Boston law firm. Lex Devlin is a legendary attorney whose career was nearly ruined by rumor that he bought a juror. Now the two are working together to defend, and prove innocent, the son of an important Judge. The young man is accused of shooting a revered elderly man in Chinatown. In the investigation, Michael, with his college friend Harry, sees sides of Chinatown he didn't know existed and he may not survive the experience.

Gripping, exciting, suspenseful--over the top at times but boy, did it keep me turning the pages. There was good development of the main characters, wonderful wry humor and a chance to visit my favorite city of Boston and the drive to Canada. I can't ensure the accuracy of the legal scenes, but considering Dobbyn was a practicing lawyer and now a professor of law, I have to assume they are correct. They certainly aren't dull, as is nothing in this book. If you are looking for an exciting weekend read, this is it. I'll also admit I also loved that his inside cover picture is him, his wife and their dog.

My awesome sister-in-law TOOK the picture that is now the cover of this book! Also, she named her picture "neon dragon" BEFORE the book was ever written....HOW COOL IS THAT!!!!
Yes - she's very talented!!!!! Just thought I would share! Thought some of you might find this info interesting!

In Boston Michael Knight works as a third year associate attorney at Bilson, Dawes, Leftbridge & Sykes law firm. Thus he is shocked when African-American judge Amos Bradley, expected to be named to the Massachusetts Supreme Judicial Court soon, asks him to represent his son Anthony, who is accused of killing sexagenarian Mr. Chen An-Young during a New Year's parade. The shooting has angered the Chinese-American community as Mr. Chen was a well respected grandfather.

Knight visits the incarcerated Anthony at the Suffolk County prison where he finds his client articulate and grateful. Anthony insists he is guilty of only agreeing to go with his friend Terry Blocher to attend the Chinese New Year gala. At the office, attorney Alexis "Lex" Devlin offers to help Michael with the case; Alexis was the top gun until a decade ago when a jury-tampering charge forced Lex into "hiding". The case looks hopeless on the surface, but with Knight following clues that take him into nasty neighborhoods, he believes he can prove his client's innocence that is if he stays alive long enough.

The protagonist knew nothing about government corruption or Chinese organized gangs in spite of being in the prosecutor's office for four years before he joined his current firm and grew up in the city. Knight is a terrific protagonist who, with his mentor, makes for a delightful Bostonian joy ride. The story line is fast-paced and includes some fun references to Beantown literary sleuths. However, it is the courtroom that makes this a fine legal thriller as fans of the sub-genre will enjoy the teaming of Michael and Lex.

Harriet Klausner

As a long time fan of Dobbyn's short stories in Ellery Queen, Hitchcock, et al,I read his first full length novel with eager anticipation.Neon Dragon did not disapppoint & in fact was a great read!
Fast paced with well placed sarcasm & wry humor, the story & characters pull one in & make it difficult to put down ala Patterson & Grisham.However, Dobbyn has a style uniquely his own. His scenes in & about Boston bring back images that I as a former Bostonian can really appreciate.
I look forward to his next novel.

C.F.DiSilva