Lost on the freedom trail : the National Park Service and urban renewal in postwar Boston / Seth C. Bruggeman.

Format:

Book

Author/Creator:

Bruggeman, Seth C., 1975- author.

Series:

Public history in historical perspective.

Public history in historical perspective

Language:

English

Subjects (All):

United States. National Park Service--History--20th century.

United States.

Resilience (Personality trait).

Historic sites--Massachusetts--Boston.

Historic sites.

Heritage tourism--Social aspects--Massachusetts--Boston.

Heritage tourism.

National parks and reserves--Social aspects--Massachusetts--Boston.

National parks and reserves.

Collective memory--Massachusetts--Boston.

Collective memory.

Urban renewal--Massachusetts--Boston--History--20th century.

Urban renewal.

Boston National Historical Park (Boston, Mass.)--History.

Boston National Historical Park (Boston, Mass.).

Freedom Trail (Boston, Mass.)--History.

Freedom Trail (Boston, Mass.).

Boston (Mass.)--History--Revolution, 1775-1783--Historiography.

Boston (Mass.).

Boston (Mass.)--Race relations.

Physical Description:

1 online resource (xvii, 301 pages) : illustrations, maps

Other Title:

National Park Service and urban renewal in postwar Boston

Place of Publication:

Amherst ; Boston : University of Massachusetts Press, [2022]

Summary:

"Boston National Historical Park is one of America's most popular heritage destinations, drawing in millions of visitors annually. Tourists flock there to see the site of the Boston Massacre, to relive Paul Revere's midnight ride, and to board Old Ironsides-all of these bound together by the iconic Freedom Trail, which traces the city's revolutionary saga. Making sense of the Revolution, however, was never the primary aim for the planners who reimagined Boston's heritage landscape after the Second World War. Seth C. Bruggeman demonstrates that the Freedom Trail was always largely a tourist gimmick, devised to lure affluent white Americans into downtown revival schemes, its success hinging on a narrow vision of the city's history run through with old stories about heroic white men. When Congress pressured the National Park Service to create this historical park for the nation's bicentennial celebration in 1976, these ideas seeped into its organizational logic, precluding the possibility that history might prevail over gentrification and profit"-- Provided by publisher.

Contents:

Introduction. Lost on the Freedom Trail

Remembering the Revolution in old and new Boston

Imagining a National Historical Park for Boston

Losing control of the agenda

Planning a park for "modern Boston and modern America"

The problem with history, the problem with race

Managing memory in the new economy

Afterword. Lost and found on the Freedom Trail.

Notes:

Description based on print version record.

Other Format:

Print version: Bruggeman, Seth C. Lost on the Freedom Trail

ISBN:

9781613768983

OCLC:

1266202091