A city so grand : the rise of an American metropolis, Boston 1850-1900 / Stephen Puleo.

Format:

Book

Author/Creator:

Puleo, Stephen.

Language:

English

Subjects (All):

Boston (Mass.)--History--19th century.

Boston (Mass.).

Boston (Mass.)--Social conditions--19th century.

Physical Description:

1 online resource (312 p.)

Place of Publication:

Boston : Beacon Press, 2010.

Language Note:

English

Summary:

A lively history of Boston's emergence as a world-class city--home to the likes of Frederick Douglass and Alexander Graham Bell--by a beloved Bostonian historian "It's been quite a while since I've read anything--fiction or nonfiction--so enthralling."--Dennis Lehane, author of Mystic River and Shutter Island Once upon a time, "Boston Town" was an insulated New England township. But the community was destined for greatness. Between 1850 and 1900, Boston underwent a stunning metamorphosis to emerge as one of the world's great metropolises--one that achieved national and international prominence in politics, medicine, education, science, social activism, literature, commerce, and transportation. Long before the frustrations of our modern era, in which the notion of accomplishing great things often appears overwhelming or even impossible, Boston distinguished itself in the last half of the nineteenth century by proving it could tackle and overcome the most arduous of challenges and obstacles with repeated--and often resounding--success, becoming a city of vision and daring. In A City So Grand , Stephen Puleo chronicles this remarkable period in Boston's history, in his trademark page-turning style. Our journey begins with the ferocity of the abolitionist movement of the 1850s and ends with the glorious opening of America's first subway station, in 1897. In between we witness the thirty-five-year engineering and city-planning feat of the Back Bay project, Boston's explosion in size through immigration and annexation, the devastating Great Fire of 1872 and subsequent rebuilding of downtown, and Alexander Graham Bell's first telephone utterance in 1876 from his lab at Exeter Place. These lively stories and many more paint an extraordinary portrait of a half century of progress, leadership, and influence that turned a New England town into a world-class city, giving us the Boston we know today.

Contents:

A city so bold, 1850-1859

Abolitionists and the Fugitive Slave Law

The great railroad jubilee

The irrepressible Irish

Filling the Back Bay

The gallows glorious

A city transformed, 1860-1875

No turning back

War

Peace, expansion, perseverance

An end and a beginning

A city so grand, 1876-1900

The centennial, the sensational, and beyond

Breaking new ground.

Notes:

Bibliographic Level Mode of Issuance: Monograph

Includes bibliographical references and index.

Description based on publisher supplied metadata and other sources.

ISBN:

0-8070-5045-8

OCLC:

621466925