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University of California Press

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
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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
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Table of Contents

List of Maps

INTRODUCTION: UNSETTLING GREATER BOSTON

1 BOSTON’S HISTORIC CORE
Boston Harbor
   Deer Island |  Griffi n Wharf |  Rainsford Island Hospital |  Central
   Wharf/James and Thomas H. Perkins and Company |  Long Wharf/Boston
   Fruit Company |  Fort Strong, Long Island |  Nixes Mate
Shawmut Peninsula
DOWNTOWN BOSTON
   The Boston Common |  Anne Hutchinson House Site |  Odeon Theatre
   |  Liberty Square |  Marlboro Hotel and Chapel |  Boston Court House |
   American House/John F. Kennedy Federal Building |
   John P. Jewett and Company |  Daily Evening Voice | Exchange
   Place/Boston Bellamy Club/Immigration Restriction League |  Faneuil Hall |
   Dewey Square |  The Parker House |  United Fruit Company |
   Boston Safe Deposit and Trust Company/The Vault |
   Gay Community News
THE NORTH END AND THE WEST END
   Onesimus-Mather House | Cooper Street Armory | Parmenter Street Chapel |
   Great Molasses Flood Site |  The West End Museum
BEACON HILL
   James Bowdoin Home Site |  David Walker Home | Abiel
   Smith School/Museum of African American History |  Julia Ward Howe
   Residence |  Henry Cabot Lodge House
CHINATOWN/THE SOUTH COVE
   Denison House |  1903 Immigration Raid Site |  New England
   Telephone Company Exchange/Verizon Building |  The Common Cupboard |
   The Naked i |  The Metropolitan/Parcel C
South End
   Tent City | Haley House |  Cathedral of the Holy Cross |
   South End Press | Villa Victoria Center for the Arts |  Blackstone Square
The Back Bay and the Fenway
   The Newbry |  Armory of the First Corps of Cadets/The Castle |
   The Youth’s Companion Building | The Rat | Fenway Park |
   Marian Hall, Emmanuel College/Boston Women’s Health Book Collective |
   Symphony Road Community Garden | College of Public and Community Service, UMass Boston
   | Massachusetts Competitive Partnership
   
2 OTHER CITY OF BOSTON NEIGHBORHOODS
Charlestown
   Charlestown Navy Yard | City Square Park | Charlestown High School football field
East Boston
   Maverick Square | The East Boston Immigration Station/Navy Fuel Pier
   Airport Edge Buffer | Boston Logan International Airport | Lewis Family Home |
   Neptune Road Edge Buffer Park | Suffolk Downs
South Boston
   L Street Bathhouse/BCYF Curley Community Center | Police Station 6/
   Patriot Homes | South Boston High School/Excel High School | South
   Boston District Courthouse |  South Boston Heights Academy | Carson Beach |
   South Boston Residents for Peace/Tony Flaherty Home |
   Seaport Common
Roxbury and Mission Hill
   Saint Cyprian’s Episcopal Church and Toussaint L’Ouverture Hall |
   Franklin Lynch Peoples’ Free Health Center |  Saint Mark’s Social
   Center |  Dudley Street Neighborhood Initiative |  Mission Main
Dorchester, Mattapan, and Hyde Park
   Camp Meigs Playground | The William Monroe Trotter House |
   James Reeb House | Christopher Gibson School |  Boston
   Welfare Department, Grove Hall Office/Mother Caroline Academy and Education
   Center | Temple Beth Hillel | Laura Ann Ewing Home/Columbia
   Point Housing Project |  Columbia Point Health Center/Geiger-Gibson
   Health Center | US Armed Forces Recruiting Station and Dorchester District
   Courthouse | The Boston Globe Headquarters | Combahee River
   Collective | State Temple Church of God in Christ
Jamaica Plain, Roslindale, and West Roxbury
   Brook Farm |  Theodore Parker Unitarian Universalist Church |
   Science for the People/Helen Keller Collective |  Southwest
   Corridor Park |  City Life/Vida Urbana | Bikes Not Bombs (The Shop) |
   William A. Hinton State Laboratory Institute
Allston and Brighton
   Nonantum | Noah Worcester House | Barry’s Corner |
   Saint John’s Seminary | Power-One Corporation Factory Site |
   Binland Lee House
   
3 ADJACENT CITIES
Cambridge and Somerville
   Ten Hills Farm | Harvard Indian College/Matthew Hall |
   Elmwood | Ursuline Convent | Riverside Cycling Club | Old
   Mole/The Middle East and Zuzu Restaurant and Nightclub |  Polaroid/
   Tech Square | 888/The Women’s Center | Sojourner: The Women’s
   Forum | Dollars & Sense | Old Cambridge Baptist Church | Food Not Bombs |
   The John F. Kennedy School of Government at Harvard
   University | Ray and Maria Stata Center, Massachusetts Institute of
   Technology | Harvard Square Public Toilet
Chelsea and Everett
   Chelsea Naval Hospital | Labor Lyceum | Chelsea Salt
   Terminal | Exxon Mobil Everett Terminal
   
4 NORTH OF BOSTON
Lowell
   Wamesit | Saint Paul’s Methodist Episcopal Church/
   UTEC | The Voice of Industry and Middlesex Standard | Saint Patrick
   Church | Socialist Hall
Lawrence
   Lawrence Experiment Station/Ferrous Site Park | American Woolen
   Company |  Franco-Belgian Hall |  North Lawrence Railroad Station |
   Jonas Smolskas House |  The Arlington Mills |  Schaake’s Block |
   The Essex Company Headquarters Compound/Lawrence History Center |
   Bread and Roses Housing | 1984 Riot Epicenter
Haverhill
   Grand Army of the Republic Park |  Old Haverhill City Hall
Newburyport
   William Lloyd Garrison House | Caleb Cushing Homes
Salem
   East India Marine Hall/Peabody Essex Museum | Lyceum Hall |
   Pequot Mill/Shetland Industrial Park |  Proctor’s Ledge | The
   Derby House |  North Shore Community Development Coalition/Punto
   Urban Art Museum
Lynn
   Town Hall |  Kimball and Butterfield/The Awl |  Frederick Douglass
   House | High Rock Tower Reservation | Lyceum Hall |  River
   Works/General Electric | Lynn Woods Reservation
   
5 WEST AND SOUTH OF BOSTON
Waltham
   Walter E. Fernald State School | Raytheon Corporate Headquarters
Concord
   The Robbins House | Brister’s Hill | Concord Jail | MCIConcord/
   The Concord Reformatory
Plymouth and the South Shore
   Cole’s Hill | Old Country House/1749 Court House |  Plimoth
   Plantation | Maypole Hill Park |  Wessagusset Memorial Garden
   
6 THEMATIC TOURS
Native Greater Boston Tour
Malcolm and Martin Tour
Sacco and Vanzetti Tour
Bread and Roses and More Tour
The One Percent of Greater Boston Tour
The Nature of Greater Boston Tour

Acknowledgments
Bibliography
Credits
Index

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