A City So Grand: The Rise of an American Metropolis, Boston 1850-1900 Book

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.

Publishers Weekly

“No period in Boston's history was more dynamic” than the second half of the 19th century, writes Puleo (The Boston Italians) in this smoothly narrated account of that time and place. Through the determination of the abolitionists, the empire-building of the city's merchants, the dogged endurance of the impoverished Irish immigrants, the city was propelled into ever greater significance. All segments of Boston society rallied to the Union during the Civil War, and the story of the Sixth Massachusetts Regiment and the defense of Washington, D.C., is particularly dramatic. Boston became the hub of the nation's railway system, turned the stagnant waters of the Back Bay into a prosperous residential center, and built the first American subway. After the Civil War, thousands of new immigrants, most especially the Italians, arrived to become a vibrant part of the urban community, and despite tensions and disasters, Boston emerged as one of the world's leading cities. In such a thorough history, however, there is little description of the role played by African-Americans beyond the 1860s. 12 b&w photos. (May)