Massachusetts: From Colony to Commonwealth : An Illustrated History

by Judith Freeman Clark, Robert Allison

a large format history. Looks nice but has a large gift inscription on the blank endpaper and also has a thin exacto-type cut through the back panel of the jacket and scar the book very thinly to match right there at the edge. Hard to see it at first.

Hardcover

Published January 1, 2002

Reviews

[آية · Rating 2 out of 5]

The pictures and captions were pretty cool. The text itself...not so much. It really romanticized Massachusetts and their upper class instead of highlighting their involvement in the slave trade in earlier US history and other problematic aspects. It also romanticized the working class as being "hard working" and didn't deeply consider the problems they faced besides a few pages on labor movements. Industrialization/capitalism were not seen as exploitative of workers--they were instead seen as opening windows of opportunity for the poor (without much of a dive into all the problems it caused) and a success for the rich.

Perhaps more forgivable is the fact that this book is incredibly Massachusetts-centric. I expected this, but the book doesn't even consider how MA was influenced by *other* places--only how MA influenced them. And it was kind of ridiculous how it uncritically praised every single congressman/president/politician to come out of MA. It even praises certain people for having "impeccable Boston Brahmin lineage" lol (page 165).

So...this is basically the history of the white elite in Boston. Even the immigrants mentioned are primarily Irish--others are barely listed. The emphasis is on the rich, the politicians, the Harvard grads, rarely the average working/middle class.