My rating:
add to my books
Loading...
A City So Grand: The Rise of an American Metropolis, Boston 1850-1900
Once upon a time, "Boston Town" was an insulated New England township. But the community was destined for greatness. Between 1850 and 1900, Boston underwent a stunning metamorphosis to emerge as one of the world's great metropolises-one that achieved national and international prominence in politics, medicine, education, science, social activism, literature, comm...more
Hardcover, 320 pages
Published
May 4th 2010
by Beacon Press
(first published May 1st 2010)
There is a good chance some of your friends read this book. Sign in to see!
sign in »
Friend Reviews
To see what your friends thought of this book,
please sign up.
This book is currently not featured on any Listopia lists.
Add this book to your favorite list »
Community Reviews
(showing
1-30
of
75)
Puleo has no need to exaggerate the importance of Boston during the period he writes about. One just has to look at a list of some of Boston's "firsts"--First state to have free compulsory education, first state to have a free municipal library and first library to allow borrowing, and first state to have a subway system. The first black regiment in the Civil War, made up of liberated slaves from North Carolina, was organized and led by white Bostonians. Boston was also home to som...more
Patrick
is currently reading it
So I'm 50 pages in and I've put this book down in disgust at least twice. I'm going to give it one more chance and I'm done. I'm having a real problem with this guy's possession with peppering every single paragraph with quotes. There are some passages where he's basically just joining together 3 or 4 quotes from different sources. Now I'm all for a good supporting quote judiciously used, but this guy is just taking the piss at this stage.
Ok, deep breath...I'll give it the weekend.
Ok, deep breath...I'll give it the weekend.
As a Back Bay resident with a love for history and city planning, I couldn't have stumbled upon a more intriguing, can't-put-down read. Not only did I learn that Alexander Grahme Bell finish inventing the telephone a block away from my adobe, that it took 40 years to fill the Back Bay, and how Post Office Square got its name, but truly found a new appreciation for the city I currently call home--and not to mention, picked up some great party facts along the read.
I finished the book just in time to enjoy Stephen Puleo's participation in our local library's author speaking engagements. He again spoke to a delighted, large audience, addressing the highlights in the book: the incredible decade of the eighteen fifties and the abolitionists in Boston and surrounding areas, the Fugitive Slave Law and Boston's humiliation when a slave was forcibly removed from the city, the later decades that saw the filling in of the back bay, accomplished in thirty years and ...more
I'm not a huge history buff, but Puleo's storytelling skills are so terrific. He is an unabashed Boston booster, but he still doesn't pull any punches regarding the not-so-great moments in the city's history. Really fun read.
Very readable, a kind of narrative history that's easy to whip through, but I could have used a little more summation/argument to back up his main point. A fun overview of some interesting episodes during this period, but the grand conclusions seem a little unearned.
For those from Boston hoping to glorify their hometown - first subway in the US, first telephone call, home to the abolitionists - not so good with catholicism and the Irish and Italians who came with it and women's suffrage. Certainly skirts over the negative - but also does an amazing job of opening up a breadth of history I had otherwise not connected or missed. Full of "did you know" moments - all in all a great read!
I loved Dark Tide and am really looking forward to reading this.
It's always a little shocking to me how much I don't know. How could a free black man be sent back to Georgia by Daniel Webster?
Amy
marked it as to-read
Melissa
marked it as to-read
Jackie
marked it as to-read
Alison
marked it as to-read
Bob Houlihan
marked it as to-read
Eric
marked it as to-read
Jeff
added it
Jen
marked it as to-read
Jenny
marked it as to-read
Romelle Berry
marked it as to-read
Kuva
marked it as to-read
Tina Valverde
marked it as to-read
Tech
marked it as to-read
There are no discussion topics on this book yet.
Be the first to start one »
Stephen Puleo is an author, historian, university teacher, public speaker, and communications professional. His books include A City So Grand: The Rise of an American Metropolis, Boston 1850-1900; The Boston Italians: A Story of Pride, Perseverance and Paesani, from the Years of the Great Immigration to the Present Day; Due to Enemy Action: The True World War II Story of the USS Eagle 56; and Dark...more
More about Stephen Puleo...
Share This Book
No trivia or quizzes yet. Add some now »
