Product Description

Boston has a topographical history and an encyclopedia. There are histories of the Boston Red Sox, the Boston Symphony, and other great institutions in the city. But there is no good short history of the city itself, not in print anyway, not until now. With economy and style, Dr. Robert Allison brings Boston history alive, from the Puritan theocracy of the seventeenth century to the Big Dig of the twenty-first. His book includes a wealth of illustrations, a lengthy chronology of the key events in four centuries of Boston history, and twenty short profiles of exceptional Bostonians, from founder John Winthrop to heavyweight champion John L. Sullivan, from "heretic" Anne Hutchinson to Russian-American author Mary Antin. In his course on Boston history at Suffolk University, Allison leads students on walking tours of the city. A Short History of Boston is a tour through history with an engaging, knowledgeable guide.

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #139577 in Books
• Published on: 2004-02-14
• Original language: English
• Number of items: 1
• Binding: Paperback
• 128 pages

About the Author
Robert J. Allison teaches history at Suffolk University and in the Harvard Extension School. He earned his doctorate in the History of American Civilization at Harvard. He and his wife and two sons make their home in South Boston.

Customer Reviews

Short and densely packed
I purchased this book to get a little more connected to my adopted home. The book is crammed full of information in its slim 128 pages. Space does not allow any topic to be reviewed in full detail. But, on many pages I found myself saying, "Wow, that's really interesting. I'd love to read more about that." A Short History of Boston is a great launching pad to more study of Boston's nearly 400 years of history.

Lots of information, suboptimal writing flow
I agree with the previous reviewer that there is a lot of information packed into this slim volume, and it would indeed make a great jumping-off point for learning more -- you can peruse this book for what interests you, and then trundle over to the Boston Public Library to dig for more details.

That said, I did not find the writing in this book to flow very well. Informative, yes, but not a very pleasant read. I suspect that an editing overhaul... reword this sentence, rearrange that paragraph, etc... would make the book not only informative but much more enjoyable to consume.