Massachusetts Books

David Daniel's descriptions of place and atmosphere in GOOFY FOOT are right on the mark. In the seaside town of Standish you can feel the salt air and hear bar music drifting through the fog. "Goofy foot" is slang for a surfer who leads with the off-foot. But it also means "how you sometimes get the intuitive stuff...inklings." The reader, like Alex himself, gets inklings of what's going on and comes to understand things intuitively, the way it usually happens in real life. With another writer this lack of specificity might be annoying, but Daniel has brought the reader so completely into the story, and Alex has been so honest with his thoughts, that in GOOFY FOOT all seems as it should be.

This was an all-around super book! I loved it, just the way I loved Daniel's last book, WHITE RABBIT. So it looks like David Daniel is just a terrific writer and anything he produces has a good chance of being a great read.

After last year's excellent and underrated classic, "White Rabbit" David Daniel's returns with "Goofy Foot" the third installment of his Alex Rasmussen mystery series.

Though the plot of a missing girl is less than innovative, Daniel structures it nicely and his character development is par excellence. "Goofy Foot" bounces from great storytelling to literature in a way that keeps the pages turning. His protagonist, hard-boiled Alex Rasmussen is a modern day Philip Marlowe. In the Lowell settings, you can feel at once the working-class pride and the grinding existence, and the reader looks forward to his next Rasmussen blues' book and his "Ghost of Kerouac."

Daniel has stories to tell.

In Lowell, Massachusetts, Paula Jensen hires private sleuth Alex Rasmussen because she has not heard from her daughter Michelle in two days. Paula explains that Michelle was visiting her father Ben Nickerson in California, but should have been home by now even with Ben breaking their agreement and driving her home cross country, but they should have arrived already.

Alex makes inquiries and quickly learns that the seemingly perfect family paragon of the Jensen household is a fake. Michelle's sister Katie insists that her sibling has a strained relationship with her mom and especially her stepfather Ross. The local Police Chief Delcastro feels there is nothing to investigate as two bickering parents are involved and the teen will show up. Besides Michelle missing, Ben also seems to have vanished. When the last known person to admit to seeing Ben alive suddenly dies in a dubious car crash, Alex knows that his client's teenage daughter in danger, but anyone who might be able to help seems lethargically reluctant to get involved.

In some ways this delightful private investigate tale reads more like a cozy as the cast led by the hero is passive to the extreme of wondering if anyone is breathing in Massachusetts. Thus anyone seeking brawls inside a suburban noir should look elsewhere. However, readers who appreciate a solid leg work sleuth tale starring an amiable protagonist will enjoy David Daniel's cold footed detective story that is no warm day at the beach.

Harriet Klausner

In the third book in the Alex Rasmussen mystery series David Daniel gives us a book which is hard to put down and even harder to figure out who is who and what is what.

In a background of aging surfers, small town police, missing persons and get rich land barons, we find our hero trying to figure out who is missing and who is dead. As he travels from Lowell to a small Massachusetts vacation resort town to try and find a missing father and daughter, Alex runs into more intrigue and trouble than he baragins for.

If you are a fan of the Alex Rasmussen series, you will love this book and if you are just now reading your first A.R. mystery, I am sure that you will want to catch up with the others.

Surf's up, dudes, but the waves are high and treacherous in this non-stop thriller. Grab your board and go for the ride of your life.

I found this to be a well researched and mostly through book covering a wide selection of architectural examples from the Berkshires. It has a good mix of numerous previously published historical photos (the Lenox Library put out a photography book of note, too) but also many photos I have not seen before. While many of the properties are still standing today few of the photographs used are current, which is a shame, and fewer still are from the middle of the last century.

The title is more sterile in comparison to the almost Bible-like reference on the Berkshire estates, Carole Owens' "Berkshires Cottages: A Vanishing Era" from 1984. The Owens title came out when architecturally the "Inland Newport" was just starting to awaken from years of abuse and neglect of many of these delightful white elephants of the Gilded Age. Now this title, "Houses of the Berkshires", is being released when the area couldn't be any more desirable and vibrant with almost none of the remaining and covered Berkshires `cottages' in any state of disrepair. A large exception is the in-restoration Rotch & Tilden designed Ventfort Hall. It would be nice, as a means to better appreciate these homes, to also share in such a book as this the state to which many of these homes sank before they rebounded to the condition they are in today.

The book is more brief then I'd prefer on some homes, but often those noted residences have been far better covered in books devoted to the architect or the family. Case in point, Elm Court was best detailed in the 1991 book "The Vanderbilts and the Gilded Age: Architectural Aspirations, 1879-1901" and High Lawn in the 2003 title, "The Architecture of Delano & Aldrich". Although the latter seems to be a place forever cloaked in mystery matching its beautiful fa?ade and vast feudal landholdings.

Published by Acanthus Press who republished the brilliant architect Harrie Thomas Lindeberg's 1940 original "Domestic Architecture" as well as an assortment of reflective regional focused titles with areas of wealth and architectural significance. Among those titles is the delightful "The Main Line: Country Houses of Philadelphia's Storied Suburb, 1870-1930". This book is recommendable for those who enjoy grand domestic architecture mated with true landscaping skill which should be preserved and harkens back to a time when having money did result in good taste - at least for the Berkshires.

A beautiful book, beautifully written, about a memorable part of American history, architectural and otherwise.

Acanthus is the gold standard publisher of books of this kind and their latest book does not disappoint. Mr. White does a supurb job of selecting wonderful images of these amazing estates and his research is scholarly and highly informative. If you appreciate beautifully crafted books on Gilded Age residential architecture, then I can't imagine you not loving this book. I have never had the pleasure of visiting the Bershires, so I guess this will have to be the next best thing to experiencing in person.

Mr. Millen brings up some criticisms that are valid but are misplaced. This is not an ENTIRELY fresh view of the Berkshires but local authors Gilder and Jackson bring to light much fresh architectural and social history. Also, they have found a number of previously unpublished photographs that delight, such as the early view of Naumkeag that appears inside and on the back cover. Ms. Owen's work was groundbreaking, but this work supercedes it, particularly in the great production values for which this publisher is famous.
Most curious about Mr. Millen's criticism is his desire to see the houses in mid-century ruin. There is romance in ruin, but this exquisite book's goal was to show these great estates in their glory days. Perhaps he should approach the publisher to produce his very own "Berkshires in Ruins" volume. That might indeed be a charming tome and one I would consider buying.
I highly recommend this book as an intelligent and distinctive coverage of the great houses of Lenox and Stockbridge and environs.

This is one of the best books in management. Some might find it a bit too mathematical, but the insights and general theory are one of the best contributions to the field of management.

I am Professor in the field that the author created, and (many years ago) one of the author's students. I may be biased about the field's importance, but not about this book's extraordinary clarity and continuing relevance to the field.

The book presents the philosophy, the mathematics and the computer modeling needed to take a fresh and practical perspective on managing social systems. The book's implications go far beyond "industrial" systems(though people interested in the dynamics of businesses won't be disappointed). The principles presented in this book have subsequently been applied to understanding issues in all sorts of social systems: cities, the environment, epidemics, romantic relationships, and terrorism to name just a few.

Industrial Dynamics was the first book published in system dynamics, a field founded by Jay Forrester (the author) at MIT. Nothing in this book is outdated. The fundamentals of the field remain as Jay Forrester described them in 1961. Forrester's insistance that the field be relevant and understandable has no better incarnation than this book.

A very high quality study of the information-feedback characteristics of industrial activity; describing how the flows of information, money, orders, materials, personnel, and capital plant interact to produce the system's behavior over time; relating organizational structure & corporate policy to corporate growth and stability.

I agree with the previous reviewer, that Mr.Forresters book was one the most important and yet most ignored books on dynamics/strategy in the 20th century.

Forresters basic insight was: translate the evolution of a market segment into cybernetic circles, translate those circles into differential equation, and those equations into a computer language like DYNAMO.

Our family found The Legend of Katama to be a story that has something for everyone. For younger kids it's a great "read aloud" book, beautifully written, easy to listen to, and wonderfully illustrated. For older kids, the story is one that can teach values and American Indian history. For adults, it is a story that highlights the beauty of Martha's Vineyard and some of our country's rich heritage.

My children were given The Legend of Katama as a Christmas gift. This book is a wonderful story that teaches an ancient lesson of peace and love that touches both children and adults. This message is an important link between the past, present and future of our world. My children were fascinated by the story and the beautiful illustrations. As an adult, the story moved me deeply with its beautiful message. The author's descriptive words wove a story that captured me in a warm embrace and painted a vivid picture enabling me to feel as though I was a nearby observer of this tale. I highly recommend this book to become a part of any family's home library and in our school and public libraries as well.

Not just a beautiful story with a lovely message, but a book that opens a window on Martha's Vineyard, a place many of us know about, but don't really know at all. I loved the effortless learning about the history and native culture of the Vineyard; my 9-year-old daughter just loved the whole experience of this book...period. Highly recommended!

I thought this book has a place in the historical archives for illuminating the history and beauty of the Indian tribe of Martha's Vineyard. The illustrations captured the tone and colors of the Vineyard and in a primitive way led the imagination down the path to explore the legend. It is a beautiful book to read to your children and have on your booksleves for generations to read. What could be more wonderful then looking out to sea and imaging the beauty of creatures being created out of love.

Jay Atkinson is to New England what William Faulkner is to the South (or, specifically, Yoknapatawpha County). Here, in similar fashion to his crowning achievement (to date), "Ice Time," Atkinson demonstrates an impeccable ability to chronicle the talking, walking, living, and dying of New Englanders in such vivid description where every page crackles with rich imagery and sounds.

Just as Ice Time isn't REALLY about hockey, Legends isn't REALLY about cops and con men. Both are about relationships and traditions. And, even where Atkinson puts himself in the stories being told, he always retains the position of discreet voyeur; demonstrating beneath his masculine persona a remarkable talent to convey the innermost joys and melancholy of his characters. That is where Atkinson lives, and he invites us all to come along. Any fan of great writing will accept the invitation.

Jay Atkinson is to New England what William Faulkner is to the South (or, specifically, Yoknapatawpha County). Here, in similar fashion to his crowning achievement (to date), "Ice Time," Atkinson demonstrates an impeccable ability to chronicle the talking, walking, living, and dying of New Englanders in such vivid description where every page crackles with rich imagery and sounds.

Just as Ice Time isn't REALLY about hockey, Legends isn't REALLY about cops and con men. Both are about relationships and traditions. And, even where Atkinson puts himself in the stories being told, he always retains the position of discreet voyeur; demonstrating beneath his masculine persona a remarkable talent to convey the innermost joys and melancholy of his characters. That is where Atkinson lives, and he invites us all to come along. Any fan of great writing will accept the invitation.

Okay, the title is a bit much. But I enjoyed this book tremendously. Some of the criticisms point to the elements I liked best. The routine cases, how they were approached, and the results were a revelation to someone who has no real idea of police work except what I've seen on "Cops" (constant action and crisis!). There was a new story on every page, and I wound up reading until 1 a.m. on a work day because I just couldn't help reading "one more page". The descriptions of the surroundings, the characters, the sounds and smells of the settings, conjured up a real sense of being there. I was fascinated by the character faults and virtues of the people in the book, as Atkinson tried to remain true to McCain's philosophy that most people aren't entirely good or bad. As a resident of the area, I finally understand the gang wars that were taking place when I was growing up (I remember the old Boston Record American newpaper with the crime scene photos splashed across the front). I HIGHLY recommend this book to anyone who lives in the Northeast, and to others who'd like a glimpse into how Boston politics are practiced in every profession!

I could not disagree more with the review by Publisher's Weekly! I thought that Atkinson did an outstanding job in depicting the Boston area and some of its most important members of the law enforcement community. Atkinson's vivid depictions of setting and his uncanny ear for authentic dialogue help to create a mesmerizing and hypnotic narrative about cop life and private investigation. In today's society, in which we find organized crime figures to be charming and endearing, and our heroes are limited to vapid low life reality television stars, Atkinsons tale of Joe McCain, a police officer to be truly admired, is a breath of fresh air.

Boston has a reputation for being something of a Puritanical stick-in-the-mud. It is surprising, then, that it has experimented so vigorously and persistently with its urban design. Some of those experiments - the Back Bay and the Emerald Necklace - we recognize as glittering successes, while others - the creation of Government Center and the Fitzgerald Expressway - are festering failures that the city is only beginning to address today. Of the numerous histories and narratives that this tremendously fertile subject has produced (many of which I've read), the most wide-ranging, elegantly written and well illustrated that I have found is Jane Holtz Kay's Lost Boston. It works equally well as a coffee table book and a curl-up-on-the-couch book.

The creation and evolution of Boston is arranged here chronologically, starting with the first settlements in 1630 and concluding with an epilogue on urban renewal and it's ramifications at the close of the 20th century. Even though it is an accurate history, it tells a great story without becoming dry or academic. The language is descriptive and accessible, introducing major players in the Boston scene, from Charles Bulfinch to James Michael Curley. You also get a wonderful feel not just for the power brokers, but the neighborhoods, people and places that made the city a vibrant place. There is a warmth to Kay's writing, without delving into sentimentality. Because the background history - the day-to-day development that made Boston the Hub of the Universe - is so readable, it helped me understand the context of major events in the city's history: filling of Back Bay, the Great Fire of November 1872 and the razing of the West End in the 1960's. Instead of examining these as isolated events, they are knit together to show the city as a living, evolving organism. It was fascinating to see how Boston reinvented itself after the Fire, to see the creation of Frederick Law Olmstead's Emerald Necklace, only to lose its way, lured by the siren song of renewal.

And throughout are some of the best photographs and period illustrations of old Boston you're likely to ever see. There are the bustling wharfs on Atlantic Avenue, the original Museum of Fine Arts (where the Hancock Tower now stands), and the graceful mansions of Roxbury. There are dozens of examples of the Boston Granite style that dominated the city's architecture before the Great Fire. For me, the most moving photographs were the ones of Adams and Scollay Square and the West End, all of which fell victim to the wrecking ball to make way for Government Center and urban renewal. They themselves serve as simple, eloquent statements for common sense and reason when it comes to grand urban experiments.

And yet, it's an unfinished history. The Big Dig - the largest public works project in American history - is nearing completion, which will bring down the despised Fitzgerald Expressway. The land cleared for that highway will yet again be developed into inhabitable space and add another major chapter in the history of the city's evolution. So as history loops back on itself in Boston, it does so in new and unforeseen ways. In that, Lost Boston serves us well as a history and a speculation on the future of the city.

What a handsome book this is! I can't decide whether I liked the photos more or the text. The history is elegantly written and fascinating. How many people realize that Boston was literally created from the marshlands, spoonful by spoonful. The cast of characters who lived in this so-called Athens of America had an equally splendid selection of architects and places to live. The photos are a real treasure. I keep turning back to so many. The first edition was a classic, my mother told me. And this updated one has not only the older traditional rownhouses and state house and the pictures of the monumental construction of such attractions as the PUblic Garden and Common but a new cast. There are images of neon lights and amusement parks and the author (whose last book Asphalt Nation was a stunner with a polemic cast) has added photos of saved and threatened buildings to tell the 2lst century story. I couldn't recommend this more.

A 1999 revised edition of the 1980 classic by one-time Boston Globe and current Nation architectural critic Jane Kay, this beautiful book is filled with images of buildings and squares tragically allowed to fall into disrepair, destroyed by fire or bulldozed for parking lots and malls. Pictures, maps and photographs are black & white, and are interspersed throughout the book, organized into subjects such as signs, spires, schools, etc. The text is arranged chronologically, and is generally well-written and highly accessible. The author delves into the history, policies and people of various times from 1630 to the present day.

Many of the buildings and areas depicted are truly beautiful, some destroyed as recently as the 1970s, when you'd think people would have known better. Scenes after the fire of November 1872 make you want to cry. I have a fair number of pictorial histories of The Hub, and still found some pictures in here that I hadn't seen elsewhere, and the author's perspective is worthwhile reading.

The book is constructed of high quality paper and concludes with picture credits, a selected bibliography and a good index. It should be of interest to those with some connection to Boston, architecture or history, particularly of the 18th and 19th century.

What a treat to have this updated version of the author's classic history of Boston. The photos still resonate with the sadness of their loss and the beauty of their existence. But this isn't just a coffee table book. It remains the best history of this fascinating old, and new, city. I especially liked the supplement telling what had been saved, what was threatened and what was lost. I bought the first version 20 years ago and have bought the second to give to the next generation in my household to say how cities grow and should grow. A splendid book!

The time is 1854. Louisa May Alcott is 22. Yes, this is the Louisa who later writes Little Women and goes on to become a famous author. In this book she does the sleuthing.

Her friend Dorothy Brownly Wortham is recently returned from her travels in Europe after her wedding to Preston. Louisa and her friend Sylvia Shattuck have been invited to Dorothy's for tea. Also in attendance are Dorothy's twin sisters Edith and Sarah, their brother Edgar, and their aunt Alfreda Thorney. Unfortunately the one person missing is Dorothy. After waiting for quite a while, she arrives. She says that tea was for tomorrow, not today. She won't say where she's been. She seems quite distraught and asks everyone to come back tomorrow for tea. She asks Louisa to arrive a little early so that they may talk.

Louisa is distressed and determined to arrive early to find out what is wrong with Dorothy.

The next day, Dorothy is once again missing. After everyone arrives, Constable Cobban of the Boston Watch and Police arrives to announce that Dorothy had drowned. Her dog Lily was found drowned with her.

Louisa and Sylvia attend the autopsy but it proves to be too much for Sylvia and they leave. Louisa is determined to find out how and why Dorothy was murdered. Yes, it was murder.

Louisa ends up putting herself in danger and bringing gossip upon her name in her quest to find the murderer.

While historical mysteries are not my favorite, I really enjoyed this book. It was fun having a famous author do the sleuthing. I thought I was well written and the characters were so well developed that I had trouble figuring out who did it. That always makes it a good mystery in my eyes.

I look forward to reading more books with Louisa doing the sleuthing. I recommend this book.

Although they are as poor as can be, they live in an exclusive section of Boston so Louisa May Alcott and her family mingle with people of high society. Her father doesn't earn much money and the family's work with the Abolitionists and the underground puts the Alcotts in danger yet they are a close group bound by love. In her early twenties Louisa May wants to be a writer.

She is excited about seeing her friend Dot Wortham's home after a year long honeymoon in Europe. Dot noticeably upset asks Louisa to meet with her tomorrow at a tea party. The next day Louisa May learns that her friend's body was found floating in the Charles River. Bruises around her throat and injuries to her head lead the police to believe she was murdered by her husband who society thinks married Dot for her money. Louisa is more attuned to the behavioral nuances of the families of Dot and her husband and thinks the killer is still at large. Wanting justice to be served, she starts her own investigation and almost ends up as the killer's next victim.

LOUISA AND THE MISSING HEIRESS is a charming amateur sleuth novel that will appeal to fans of historical cozies. Anna Maclean brings the 1850's in Boston to life and readers see how even in the North the social issue of slavery permeates the culture. The heroine is charming, intelligent and independent, a woman who knows what she wants and will work to obtain it. This is the first installment in what looks to be a delightful new mystery series starring a totally wonder protagonist.

Harriet Klausner

In this first book of a promising new series, Louisa May Alcott, author of Little Women, tells readers of a time in her past when she helped solve a murder mystery. Shortly after going to a tea party where her friend, Dorothy Brownly Wortham, acts strangely, Dorothy is murdered. Dorothy had told Louisa she wanted to speak to her, but was killed before she had a chance to. Louisa is determined to find out how and why Dorothy was murdered.

This was an extremely well written, well researched book. Louisa really came to life as a character, as did the rest of her family, especially her mother, Abba. The time period also came to life through the book. The mystery itself was well plotted, and the identity of the murderer unexpected.

I'm looking forward to more books in this series.

A new sleuth has arrived on the scene, the author Louisa May Alcott. Ms. Alcott was known to have written a few thrillers herself when not writing things like "Little Women." Anna Maclean has gone back and recreated this aspect of Louisa's life with amazing fidelity; however Ms. Alcott does not just write mysteries, but also solves them.

Written with the precision and skill of her historical novels, Jean Mackin creates a minor masterpiece in her debut as Anna Maclean, mystery writer. The plot winds itself in and around pre-Civil War Boston with the beauty and complexity of a Medieval tapestry. The story is entangled with numerous characters functioning on many levels, often seeming to contradict themselves, leading us down many blind alleys. I must admit I could not put this book down. Just when I thought I had figured out who the guilty party was I discovered some new reason why they did not do it. The ending is quite a surprise. If you are looking for an entertaining historical mystery, and value good writing, I cannot recommend this book highly enough.

I'd like to second all the positive and well-deserved praise for Stanton's The Lowell Experiment. In clear and thoughtful prose, Stanton's study does indeed "tackle the blindspots" in public history. Willing to move outside her own comfort zone, Stanton places her anthropological lens on the public historians themselves. Among other projects, she examines the complex relationship that public historians at Lowell have with their newly found comfort zone in the New Economy, and theorizes how that relationship colors how they are ultimately able to interpret history in their "post-industrial" city (particularly with regards to interpretive offerings that critically link Past to Present).

This is a significant contribution to scholars/practitioners of Public History, but The Lowell Experiment should have an even wider readership. I would urge those in American Studies and Labor Studies to read this very important study and to consider teaching it in their graduate seminars. I used The Lowell Experiment in my graduate seminar, "Performing History" (in a History Department). Prior to reading Stanton's monograph, students read Kirshenblatt-Gimblett's Destination Culture, as well as Handler and Gable's The New History in an Old Museum - two texts that The Lowell Experiment self-consciously invokes. "Dynamic" is how I would describe the discussion on the day we addressed Stanton's text. Students were impressed and inspired by her scholarship, and provoked by her ideas (even while at the end of the day many felt a bit defeated about the possibilities for a truly radical public history--but this, of course, is not Stanton's burden to bear).

The Lowell Experiment is a refreshing look at a public history site through an anthropological lens by examining the role public historians play at historic sites. Stanton explores complex questions of heritage, tourism and public history detailing how the past shapes the present and the present shapes the interpretation of the past. In addition, she unveils the many challenges and limitations public historians have being both interpreters and contributors to history at historic sites. Stanton's writing is smooth and graceful filled with thought and detail. I would highly recommend this book for both graduate courses as well as readers interested in the politics of historic sites. There is no wonder this book took home the National Council of Public History's book prize, for it is truly a winner.

Stanton's examination of the heritage industry combines an astute critique of the political economy of post-industrialization with a deeply empathetic analysis of the quandries and complexities public historians face when attempting to tell complicated and sometimes conflicted stories about the past to broad audiences who tend to come to historic sites seeking a past that is familiar to them. Stanton's achievement here is in her exposure of the silences in the Lowell story and in her gentle but insistent demand that the realities of contemporary post-industrial cities -- shrinking economic bases, poverty and unprecedented heterogeneity among them -- become part of the framework for interpreting the past, grappling with the present and charting the future.

Stanton's book richly deserved the National Council of Public History's annual book prize, because, leveling a anthropologist's gaze at the public history profession, she exposes one of its most serious blind spots -- the question of why and how history could matter in today's public world. Stanton's exceedingly provocative study looks at the way the habits and ambitions of public historians combine to create distance between what we know about the past and the questions that knowledge could prompt us to ask about today and tomorrow. As one of the landmarks of 20th century public history, Lowell is a great laboratory for Stanton's ideas, and she renders it with memorable texture and detail. An excellent book for graduate courses and for the bookshelves of anyone interested in why historic sites languish while public appetite for history grows.

It has rarely been my experience that a picture is worth a thousand words -- the best pictures often elicit no words at all. Maps, however, are different -- these, when well done, I would gladly substitute for the best prose. And those in Mapping Boston are absolutely superb, giving greater clarity to a wide range of topics than words ever could.

Boston, of all cities, must give historical cartographers fits -- the city's boundaries have changed so greatly over time as to render historical comparison a great challenge. But Mapping Boston succeeds wonderfully in helping the reader to understand the city's gradual evolution from peninsula to metropolis. The growth of the city, the changes in population and land utilization, Boston's shifting ethnic and economic face are all elucidated colorfully and clearly. The bottom line is that the lover of Boston history will revel in this volume; indeed, I expect most every resident of the area will derive considerable pleasure from it.

For those who do, I would also recommend Diana Muir's Reflections in Bullough's Pond, which does for the region around Boston what Mapping Boston does for the city itself: places it in context, gives it color, brings it to life.

This book is simply gorgeous in design and exceptional in content. I can recommend it wholeheartedly to anyone interested in the history of Boston or in the evolution of maps of North America.

Collects in one place excellent plates of all the great historical maps of Boston, as well as some rarities. Ranks up there as one of the necessities for anyone with a passion for Boston's topographical history.

This book beautifully portray's Boston's physical past, present and future through maps and photographs. The book does an excellent job showing how streets and shorelines through the years match to the present topography (a huge interest of mine when exploring the city). This book is for you if you love history and maps of Boston and New England. VERY WELL DONE!

The authors do a great job of taking snapshots of Massachusetts from the days of the "city on a hill" to the modern day. This is a fantastic book for anyone interested in delving in the social, political and economic history of the Commonwealth of Massachusetts!

book: new, too costly, too big, had to rebind it, not amazon's fault. content: if you forgot where your Puritan blood is, look harder: did you REALLY wanna sail 3 months on a ship from London to infect Native Americans? the answer was yes, amaf ....

This very well written and extremely interesting history of the Commonwealth of Massachusetts is one of the only general histories of the State available.

Authors and Professors Richard Brown and Jack Tager have compiled an enjoyable read that touches on every important aspect of the State's history - from the earliest English settlements to the modern day Commonwealth. The reader quickly discovers that Massachusetts is a tremendously diverse and wonderful place to live or visit!

Finally, the "Suggested Readings" portion of this book details dozens of other specific works for those interested in finding out more about the history of Massachusetts.

The reader will be challenged to find a better general history of Massachusetts!

There is no better book about the history of Massachusetts -- check out A Concise History today.