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Books on Boston Page 2

Mapping Boston by Alex Krieger, David Cobb, Amy Turner. This is not merely a remarkable corpus of period maps--it is a historical atlas of the physical, cultural, and historical evolution of Boston from its beginnings to the present day. Editors Krieger (urban planning and design, Harvard Univ.) and Cobb (head of the Harvard Map Collection) have gathered together a critical mass of map curators, architects, urban historians, and historical archaeologists to explore this history; their informative essays accompany 270 maps, portraits, aerial photographs, and other illustrations. In addition to an excellent index, the book also boasts "A Boston Chronology" that refers to relevant plates. An unusual and handsome resource, this book is highly recommended for all public and academic libraries--particularly those with emphases on cartography, Colonial America, or New England history collections
To the attentive user even the simplest map can reveal not only where things are but how people perceive and imagine the spaces they occupy. "Mapping Boston" is an exemplar of such creative attentiveness - bringing the history of one of America's oldest and most beautiful cities alive through the maps that have depicted it over the centuries. The book includes both historical maps of the city and maps showing the gradual emergence of the New England region from the imaginations of explorers to a form that we would recognize today. Each map is accompanied by a full description and by a short essay offering an insight into its context. The topics of these essays by Anne Mackin include people both familiar and unknown, landmarks and events that were significant in shaping the landscape or life of the city. A highlight of the book is a series of new maps detailing Boston's growth. The book also contains seven essays that explore the intertwining of maps and history. Urban historian Sam Bass Warner, Jr., starts with a capsule history of Boston. Barbara McCorkle, David Bosse and David Cobb discuss the making and trading of maps from the 16th to the 19th century. Historian Nancy S. Seasholes reviews the city's remarkable topographic history as reflected in maps, and planner Alex Krieger explores the relation between maps and the physical reality of the city as experienced by residents and visitors. In an epilogue, novelist James Carroll ponders the place of Boston in contemporary culture and the interior maps we carry of a city.

Lost Boston by Jane Holtz Kay. LOST BOSTON is a visual feast, a stunning presentation of a city's physical development, and an eloquent appeal for the preservation of what makes the city special. Bringing history to life with more than 350 photographs and prints, Jane Holtz Kay traces Boston's evolution brick by brick and block by block, creating what is hailed as "an elegant architectural history, excellently illustrated."
A 1999 revised edition of the 1980 classic by one-time Boston Globe and current Nation architectural critic Jane Kay, this beautiful book is filled with images of buildings and squares tragically allowed to fall into disrepair, destroyed by fire or bulldozed for parking lots and malls. Pictures, maps and photographs are black & white, and are interspersed throughout the book, organized into subjects such as signs, spires, schools, etc. The text is arranged chronologically, and is generally well-written and highly accessible. The author delves into the history, policies and people of various times from 1630 to the present day. Many of the buildings and areas depicted are truly beautiful, some destroyed as recently as the 1970s, when you'd think people would have known better. Scenes after the fire of November 1872 make you want to cry. I have a fair number of pictorial histories of The Hub, and still found some pictures in here that I hadn't seen elsewhere, and the author's perspective is worthwhile reading. The book is constructed of high quality paper and concludes with picture credits, a selected bibliography and a good index. It should be of interest to those with some connection to Boston, architecture or history, particularly of the 18th and 19th century.

Cityscapes of Boston by Robert Campbell, Peter Vanderwarker. The entire history of a Boston's development unfolds in a series of "before and after" photographs. Developed from a series of photographic essays in the Boston Globe Magazine, this book tells how cities grow and change, describes the cycles of renewal and decay, and more.
Robert Campbell's eloquent and witty text sculpts an image of how Boston has changed with time. Each pair of pictures compares a site in Boston in the past and in the present. This book also explores the evolution of cities in general--how they develop and decay, build up and spread out, and revive and change. Beautiful black-and-white photography gives an insightful portrait of Boston, past and present. The authors' second collaboration of historical photos of Boston (the first was Boston Then and Now from 1982) came out ten years after the original, and shows a Boston I'm more familiar with. Much of the blight that Boston seemed to have been drowning in as late as the late 80s is gone in the new pictures in this book, and more of it is shown. The architectural finesses -- buildings with added floors, the defacement of buildings such as the former Fiske building on State St, before-and-afters of Quincy Market -- are given great attention in this book, and Campbell, the author of the text, is not happy with much of it. Especially poignant, towards the end, is a huge bit of graffiti along Columbus Ave from the 60s protesting the impending construction of I-95 through Boston; in 1992, however, the highway never having been built, it is now a park serving people from the South End all the way down to Jamaica Plain. This book is actually a readable book, more so than the first which was all about the pictures, and much of Campbell's ideas on urban planning are on display here. Campbell, one gathers, would not be happy with the current plans to build open space over the Big Dig, yet he applauds the demolition of an old parking garage that converted Post Office Square from a desolate, confusing high-rise commercial ghetto into at least a more presentable area where the architecture of the surrounding buildings can be enjoyed from street level. Campbell's obsession with urban density comes off as being a bit agoraphobic, but it's easy to see what he means when he describes useless open space as being as much a blight as overhead highways or slums.

Boston's Back Bay by Anthony Mitchell Sammarco. About Boston’s Back Bay and Beacon Hill. Boston BeaconHill and BackBay.

Boston, Ma Back Bay by Arrow Map. Newbury Street & Prudential Center. Includes central Boston & Cambridge street map. Index lists major streets, hotels, performance arts facilities, museums, points of interest, transportation, and restaurants.

Boston's Back Bay in the Victorian Era by Anthony Mitchell Sammarco. The Back Bay was one of Boston’s premier residential neighborhoods between 1837 and 1901. From its quagmire beginnings and with the creation of the Boston Public Garden in the 1830s, the Back Bay was envisioned as an urbane and sophisticated streetscape of stone and brick row houses. The major center of the neighborhood became Art Square, now known as Copley Square, which was surrounded by Trinity Church, New Old South Church, Second Church of Boston, the Boston Public Library, and S.S. Pierce and Company. With images of swan boats and architectural delights, Boston’s Back Bay in the Victorian Era illuminates a particularly vibrant period in this intriguing and relatively new neighborhood’s past.

The Landscape & Architecture Of Wellesley College by Peter Fergusson, James F. O'Gorman, John Rhodes. The landscape and architecture of Wellesley College have long been recognized as combining to create one of the masterpieces of campus design in North America. In eleven chapters richly illustrated with vintage and contemporary images, this book details the 125-year evolution of the park-like composition of meadows, woods, and buildings sited on the shore of a characteristic New England glacial lake. The authors set this story into the wider context of landscape and architectural studies, as well as Wellesley own institutional development. As such this book joins an important series of recent publications celebrating the history of American college campuses.

Hidden Gardens of Beacon Hill by Gail Weesner, Barbara W. Moore, Peter Vanderwarker, Tom Lingner. This book is packed with beautiful photographs of the seldom seen gardens that are hidden from view as one strolls along the streets of Beacon Hill. Many of the garden owners spend significant time creating beautiful masterpieces for themselves to enjoy. In this book, you can glimpse inside these unique gardens. 2

Beacon Hill: The Life & Times of a Neighborhood by Moying Li-Marcus. Since Boston's legendary Beacon Hill was first settled nearly 400 years ago, the neighborhood's spirited residents, generation after generation, have created and maintained a unique environment that is both timeless and forward looking. They have responded to social, economic, and political changes over the centuries by integrating the best legacies of the Hill's past into plans for the community's future growth and vitality.
In this well-crafted and lavishly illustrated work, Moying Li-Marcus takes the reader on a fascinating tour of the historic yet vibrant district of cobblestone streets, red brick sidewalks, gas lamps, and elegant Bulfinch architecture. Weaving together the personal reminiscences of dwellers with compelling narrative, she captures the essence of this special community in the heart of Boston. Here one meets both renowned and long-forgotten Beacon HillersPuritans, Brahmins, bohemians, and immigrantswho have shaped and defined this culturally rich and diverse neighborhood. Here, too, one relives memorable moments in the Hill's long and colorful saga, including the traditional candle-lighting and caroling on Christmas Eve, the annual Window Box Contest, battles to save the cherished brick sidewalks, the Charles Street Fair, the Mothers March against Storrow Drive, and the persistent problems with traffic, parking, zoning, and housing. The vital and sometimes controversial role of the Beacon Hill Civic Association, one of the nation's oldest and most tenacious neighborhood groups, in forming the area's living history is also thoroughly discussed.

Beacon Hill: A Living Portrait by Barbara W. Moore. This book is a must for your architectural library. You will refer to it frequently as the primary source for information on the early 19th century architecture of Boston. The authors are literate and the photographers sensitive and that this piece of architectural and social history has been recorded.

Upper Beacon Hill (Images of America: Massachusetts) by Rhea Hollis Atwood. Upper Beacon Hill chronicles the drama and excitement of an intriguing and little known community on top of Bostonís Beacon Hill. Separated by the Massachusetts State House and Bowdoin Street from the hillís western residential area, the upper summit and its lower eastern slope formed a magnet for power and change in the century from 1850 to 1950. Period photographs from leading Boston institutions and museums uncover the communityís celebrations, history, famous men and women, architecture, entertainment, and cultural and educational institutions. ÝÝWith its unique in-depth treatment of the area, Upper Beacon Hill has much to offer the reader. The classic architecture of Beacon Streetís Boston Athenaeum library, Bulfinchís State House, and the Park Street Church is celebrated in period photographs. Historical sites are definedófor example, the chapel off Beacon Street that was home to Transcendentalist movement meetings and, later, to Bostonís first French-speaking Roman Catholic church. Upper Beacon Hill follows the areaís changing neighborhoods, including that of Scollay Square, and traces the haunts of notables Ralph Waldo Emerson, Louisa May Alcott, Alexander Graham Bell, “Honey” Fitzgerald, and John F. Kennedy. Residents and visitors, as well as history buffs, will enjoy Upper Beacon Hill rare glimpse into Bostons history.

Paul Hogarth's Walking Tours of Old Boston: Through North End, Downtown, Beacon Hill, Charleston, Cambridge, and Back Bay by Paul Hogarth. Boston, Beacon Hill, Back Bay, South End, North End, Cambridge. Great walks.

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