Cognoscenti: Rome: More Than A Map-The Only Guide You Need Book

I especially enjoyed this history of mass transit in Providence, RI because I live in the city and because my neighborhood is a"street car suburb' made possible by electrified trolleys in the 1920s. However, there is much more to recommend for general readers her. Malloy sympathetically weaves ethnicity, class, politics, economics and culture into a surprisingly rich story of social transformation from a unified Yankee autocracy in the 1860s to the much more diverse and contentious self-government that persists today.

Malloy is a great storyteller and introduces a broad cast of characters into a short and sweeping account rich in conflict and surprising alliances. It's hard to imagine middle class passengers supporting striking bus drivers today, or a city mayor protecting insurrectionary workers in the streets.