A People's Guide to Greater Boston

by Joseph Nevins (Author), Suren Moodliar (Author), Eleni Macrakis (Author)

Paperback eBook

Price: $24.95 / £21.00

Publication Date: Jul 2020

Edition: 1st Edition

Title Details:

Rights: World

Pages: 328

ISBN: 9780520294523

Trim Size: 6 x 9

Illustrations: 170 color illustrations

Series:

A People's Guide Series

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About the Book

A People's Guide to Greater Boston reveals the region’s richness and vibrancy in ways that are neglected by traditional area guidebooks and obscured by many tourist destinations. Affirming the hopes, interests, and struggles of individuals and groups on the receiving end of unjust forms of power, the book showcases the ground-level forces shaping the city. Uncovering stories and places central to people’s lives over centuries, this guide takes readers to sites of oppression, resistance, organizing, and transformation in Boston and outlying neighborhoods and municipalities—from Lawrence, Lowell, and Lynn to Concord and Plymouth. It highlights tales of the places and people involved in movements to abolish slavery; to end war and militarism; to achieve Native sovereignty, racial equity, gender justice, and sexual liberation; and to secure workers’ rights. In so doing, this one-of-a-kind guide points the way to a radically democratic Greater Boston, one that sparks social and environmental justice and inclusivity for all.

About the Author

Joseph Nevins was born and raised in the Dorchester section of Boston and is Professor of Geography at Vassar College. His books include A Not-so-distant Horror: Mass Violence in East Timor; Dying to Live: A Story of U.S. Immigration in an Age of Global Apartheid; and Operation Gatekeeper and Beyond: The War on "Illegals" and the Remaking of the US-Mexico Boundary.

Suren Moodliar, a resident of Chelsea, Massachusetts, is both coordinator of encuentro5, a movement building space in Downtown Boston, and editor of the journal Socialism and Democracy. He coedited Noam Chomsky’s Internationalism or Extinction (2020). He completed an MA in Political Science and African Studies at the University of California, Los Angeles.

Eleni Macrakis grew up in Cambridge, Massachusetts, and now works in the field of affordable housing development in the Greater Boston area. She holds a Master in Urban Planning from Harvard University.

From Our Blog

Editor Spotlight: Interview with A People’s Guide Series Co-Editor Laura Pulido

Tourism is one of the largest and most profitable industries in the world today. Yet the vast majority of tourist guidebooks focus on a small, elite segment of the population and encourage consumption and spectacle as the primary way to experience a place. These representations do not reflect the re

Cole’s Hill and the Story Behind This Week’s Indigenous “National Day of Mourning”

By Joseph Nevins, co-author of A People’s Guide to Greater BostonMost people in the United States will celebrate Thanksgiving this week. Meanwhile, many Native Americans and their supporters will observe a “Day of Mourning.” These conflicting holidays are at the center of the ongoing strugg

Reviews

“It’s a timely, intelligent, and necessary guide, one that deepens our understanding of where we live now and reminds us of the power that regular citizens have to work against powers and systems that are, now as then, in urgent need of change.”
— Boston Globe

"A new kind of guidebook to Boston and surrounding towns . . . [that's] less Lonely Planet and more Howard Zinn. . . . Instead of giving an overview of the Freedom Trail and introducing readers to the hot restaurants and hotels of Boston, this guide uncovers the forgotten stories of radicals and activists hidden in every neighborhood and suburb."
— HUBHistory

"This book makes history intimate, showing how we must be constantly vigilant against every attempt at depriving us of a quality of life worth working for. Reading this book should inspire and hopefully empower. It does more than scratch the surface."
— Socialism and Democracy

"Think you know all about Boston? Think again. 3 local co-authors comb through centuries of Greater Boston’s history to discover untold stories from underrepresented communities. . . . Not your average guidebook."
— GBH

"One of our favorite books of 2020."
— New England Historical Society

"More than just a guide book, this is truly a people’s history of Boston and its surroundings. Theoretically rich and beautifully illustrated, it tackles race, inequality, environment, settler colonialism, labor, and more as it takes readers on detailed tours of the area’s well-known and unknown landmarks. A must for anyone who wants to get beyond tourist boosterism and glimpse the complicated histories just beneath the city’s surface."—Aviva Chomsky, Professor of History, Linked Labor Histories: New England, Colombia, and the Making of a Global Working Class

"This People's Guide brings into focus the rich history of radical organizing in the greater Boston area, providing a comprehensive look at the places where organizers lived, worked, and played. Tracing the steps of the innumerable people who, mostly unknown, contributed mightily to the wave of movement building and organizing is especially important—reminding us that ordinary people create extraordinary history."—Demita Frazier, founding member of the Combahee River Collective, coauthor of the Combahee River Collective Statement