A People's History of the New Boston


Book Description

Although Boston today is a vibrant and thriving city, it was anything but that in the years following World War II. By 1950 it had lost a quarter of its tax base over the previous twenty-five years, and during the 1950s it would lose residents faster than any other major city in the country. Credit for the city's turnaround since that time is often given to a select group of people, all of them men, all of them white, and most of them well off. In fact, a large group of community activists, many of them women, people of color, and not very well off, were also responsible for creating the Boston so many enjoy today. This book provides a grassroots perspective on the tumultuous 1960s and 1970s, when residents of the city's neighborhoods engaged in an era of activism and protest unprecedented in Boston since the American Revolution. Using interviews with many of those activists, contemporary news accounts, and historical sources, Jim Vrabel describes the demonstrations, sit-ins, picket lines, boycotts, and contentious negotiations through which residents exerted their influence on the city that was being rebuilt around them. He includes case histories of the fights against urban renewal, highway construction, and airport expansion; for civil rights, school desegregation, and welfare reform; and over Vietnam and busing. He also profiles a diverse group of activists from all over the city, including Ruth Batson, Anna DeFronzo, Moe Gillen, Mel King, Henry Lee, and Paula Oyola. Vrabel tallies the wins and losses of these neighborhood Davids as they took on the Goliaths of the time, including Boston's mayors. He shows how much of the legacy of that activism remains in Boston today.




On the Road North of Boston


Book Description

First published in 1988 by the New Hampshire Historical Society, and long since sought after, On the Road North of Boston is back in print. This richly illustrated, entertaining book is an invaluable resource for New Hampshire residents and students of the state's history alike. Nine extensively researched and meticulously prepared chapters depict historic taverns and tavern society of eighteenth- and nineteenth-century New England. Donna-Belle and James Garvin vividly reconstruct the physical landscape: the taverns themselves, the network of roads, travel conditions, traffic and commerce. They immerse the reader in the contemporary tavern atmosphere: encounters with fellow travelers, food, drink, entertainment, and hospitality in its earliest incarnations "on the road north of Boston." On the Road North of Boston contains rare and wonderful black-and-white illustrations of authentic tavern signs and furnishings, broadsides advertising tavern entertainments, early photographs and drawings of tavern buildings, road signs, vehicles, and bridges, portraits of tavern keepers, stage drivers, and itinerant performers. This book offers modern New England residents and travelers rich chronicles and visions of an age long past.













A History of the Boston & Maine Railroad: Exploring New Hampshire's Rugged Heart by Rail


Book Description

On June 27, 1835, New Hampshire chartered the Boston & Maine Railroad, and a juggernaut was born. By 1900, the B&M operated some 2,300 miles of track in northern New England, having taken over an astonishing forty-seven different railroads since its inception. The B&M loomed particularly large in the Granite State, where it controlled 96 percent of all tracks and was the primary conveyance through the rugged heart of New England s most formidable mountain range.From the gravity-defying Mount Washington Cog Railway to logging transport trains to the famous Depression-era Snow Train, A History of the Boston & Maine Railroad traces the fascinating history of New England's most renowned railway.







History Of The Town Of Hollis, New Hampshire


Book Description

A detailed account of the history of Hollis, a town in southern New Hampshire, from the arrival of its first settlers in the 17th century to the end of the 19th century. This book includes information on the town's architecture, agriculture, politics, and social life, and features numerous anecdotes about its residents. This work has been selected by scholars as being culturally important, and is part of the knowledge base of civilization as we know it. This work is in the "public domain in the United States of America, and possibly other nations. Within the United States, you may freely copy and distribute this work, as no entity (individual or corporate) has a copyright on the body of the work. Scholars believe, and we concur, that this work is important enough to be preserved, reproduced, and made generally available to the public. We appreciate your support of the preservation process, and thank you for being an important part of keeping this knowledge alive and relevant.