The Good City: Writers Explore 21st Century Boston

by Emily Hiestand (editor), Ande Zellman

Boston has persevered through the bad old days to thrive, and more, to make a kind of statement about the good city. The good city is innovative and fun, it is prosperous, it strives for justice and sustainability, but above all, it is alive. -From the Introduction by Paul Grogan

The Good City presents a vivid new profile of Boston through the work of fifteen of the city's finest writers.

Robert Campbell and Jane Holtz Kay on Boston's embrace of lively urban density
James Miller on the city's intellectual history
Jack Beatty on Boston's colorful political past and present
Patricia Powell on the literary landscape and the immigrant experience
Susan Orlean on the city she left and now loves
John Hanson Mitchell on how nature revives the metropolis
Anita Diamant on Boston as a spiritual home
Scott Kirsner on Boston as a powerhouse of scientific and technological innovation
Alan Chong on the Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum and the arts in Boston
Lynda Morgenroth on the city's neighborhoods
Michael Patrick MacDonald on gentrification and what it means to old neighborhoods like Southie
Derrick Jackson on Boston as a laboratory for advancing race relations
Howard Bryant on the city's obsession with sports
Irene Smalls on seeing the city through the eyes of a child.

Genres: Nonfiction, Urban Studies, History, Essays

182 pages, Paperback

First published July 30, 2004

Reviews

[Annie · Rating 5 out of 5]

Ohhh yes. I needed this book. This is exactly, exactly what I was looking for.

This is a book filled with beautiful meditative essays on the city of Boston. Each author's understanding of the city is extremely different, but nearly all are beautifully, memorably described.

I've been looking for a way to make myself feel at-home in Boston, learn how to love Boston the way I love Montreal. It's hard. I'm not used to doing things the way Boston does things. Montreal felt freeing and whimsical and daring and impish and intimately privately mine. Boston seems offended by whimsies and imps and daring-ness.

Susan Orleans' essay in this volume describes it perfectly:

"Boston seemed to me a little old-maidish: stubborn, stolid, and frumpy, and quite proud of its stubborn, stolid frumpiness. MOre than that, the city seemed inclined to finger-wag at anything frisky, nimble, and chic. Oh, how Boston and I rubbed each other the wrong way! I felt all thumbs here, too loudly eager for excitement and ambition and eccentricity. Old maids do not go for clamorous, ambitious excitement-seekers."

But then she turns it around and talks about how the city has lately changed:

"The city doesn’t feel hidebound anymore. Of course, Boston will always be bookish. That is one of its wonders. But being bookish and smart, which is what the Boston of the moment feels to me, is not the same as being a crabby librarian, which is what it used to feel like... I’m someone who likes the crazy overlay of industrial remnants and downtown boogie-woogie and the thick texture of an urban area. There is a lot that’s new down here, and that’s the point, but there is also a lot that’s old, which is the other point and the more critical one. The new development here is jumbled in with the great old Boston stalwarts like fish warehouses, banks, triple-deckers, and Irish bars. It’s a nice, salty mix, and when I jog around my neighborhood on those mornings when I’m not too lazy, I love the way I can pass through several different centuries and economics and atmospheres in one not-too-ambitious run."

"A nice, salty mix." I love it. Yes. I understand exactly what she means! And conceptualizing the city as she sees it- oh, it's so lovely.

Lynda Morgenroth's essay was also truly touching, probably my favourite essay in the book. I can learn to love the city she describes- I can learn to make it a home, I trust that now. That's how impactful her essay was to me. I won't quote it here, because I'd have to quote the entire thing, but trust me. Whimsical people who love an intimate relationship with their city will be in heaven with her essay.

Honorable mentions: Patricia Powell's brilliant essay on moving to Boston from Jamaica, and John Hanson Mitchell's bringing-historical-emotions-into-the-present essay.

[Chloe · Rating 3 out of 5]

3.5 stars

Picked this up from a free shelf of discarded books at the North End library, because why not?

Like any collection, there are some decent bits and some boring bits. As a museums person, I particularly enjoyed Alan Chong's essay on the Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum. I also liked Lynda Morgenroth's personal history of the neighborhoods of Boston and John Hanson Mitchell's exploration of Boston's urban landscape.

A light read that I enjoyed because I'm currently living in Boston, but dated. I probably won't hang onto this or recommend it anyone, but I didn't mind reading through it.

[Maureen · Rating 3 out of 5]

especially enjoyed Lynda Morgenrath (sp?) essay

[Jaclyn · Rating 4 out of 5]

I got a lot out of this book because I have mental hooks on which to hang some of the anecdotes. I particularly enjoyed the anecdote about how the book came to be.

[Tito Quiling, Jr. · Rating 4 out of 5]

Prior to reading this collection of essays about Boston, my knowledge about this American city has been limited to its status as the capital of Massachusetts, a few facts about the pilgrims, the historic "Boston Tea Party", the MIT and Harvard, Babe Ruth, both the Red Sox and the Celtics.

Edited by Emily Hiestand and Ande Zellman, The Good City is also a melting pot of subjects written by its locals, emigres and transients. More than these cultural and historical icons of the city, the book presents numerous untold areas of discussion regarding this old state, all through a 21st-century viewpoint.

I particularly liked the essay from Patricia Powell ("A Literary Landscape: From Jamaica to Boston"), who discussed her literary upbringing in Boston, coming from a Jamaican background. Her racial component was a key factor in her success as a writer, giving a distinct flavor to her works. Scott Kisner's "Innovation City" shows how the city utilizes industrialization to its advantage, although several of its heritage features have been replaced by modern structures. Of course, its strong sports life was not left out, as shown in "Good Sports, Bad Sports" by Howard Bryant, and the changing neighborhoods in Boston are always interesting to witness, as explained in Lynda Morgenroth's "An Intimate Geography: Boston Neighborhoods".

Here is a quote from Robert Campbell's "A Mixing Chamber" that best defines how a city greatly affects an inhabitant's life:

“The city, most of all, is a place of accidental encounter. Accidental encounters happen when you walk, not when you travel in your sealed car. You run unexpectedly into friends. Or you’re seduced by a bookstore window. Or you notice for the first time a choice work of architecture. Or you stop to watch a bocce game. City life, in that sense, is unpredictable.”

Perhaps, as in any progressive city, change is constantly gripping the lives of its inhabitants, and the place becomes a concept that we have in our minds and memories, its descriptions and images more vivid as we recall facets about the city that we love.

[J. Dunn · Rating 2 out of 5]

Meh. I bought this as part of an effort to get a bit more of a literary, cultural, historical, etc view of my adopted home, and while there is a bit of that to be found here, it’s mostly writers grinding their personal sociopolitical axes, and also a bit too much fluff. Not that there’s anything wrong with a personal take, or a political one, or any angle whatsoever in the abstract, but in a collection ostensibly about the city, I would like the essays to be a little less tangential and narrowly focused.

[Tim · Rating 4 out of 5]

Boston is one of my favorite cities in the U.S., so this book was a fun find at a used bookstore in Chicago when I was there last month.

The book is a series of essays about Boston, it's culture, religion, sports, architecture and other topics. It touches how people live, work and play in the Boston area and also has a lot of historical information. It was delightful to read and made me want to head back to Boston soon!

If your heading to Boston, I would highly recommend this book as an interesting primer for the area.

Simply,

Tim

[Hubert · Rating 3 out of 5]

Not such an exciting collection for those of us who have lived in this region for a long time but still demonstrates a great amount of love and affection for Boston. Each article focuses on a different aspect: geography, history, race (multiple times), immigration, politics (including colorful stories of Mayor Curley "Cuhley") and sports.

[Josh · Rating 4 out of 5]

Great vignettes about Boston from wide ranging perspectives from the poets to the sportswriters from subjects like race to the Gardner museum.

[Katherine Decker · Rating 4 out of 5]

An interesting read. Good for picking up and putting down. Boston Strong.

[Kyle Schroeckenthaler · Rating 4 out of 5]

Almost all of the essays were enjoyable to read. I learned a lot about the city and its intellectual tradition.

[Jonathan Brown · Rating 4 out of 5]

Historical, contemporary, and personal stories of Boston. A nice way to learn more about the city without feeling bogged down by a larger book.