THIS SPRING, Al Gore testified before Congress on global warming, which he considers an imminent threat to the survival of the planet. When Sen. James Inhofe began his questioning, he […]
Arts and Culture
Posted inArts and Culture, Uncategorized
Path breaker, but no trendsetter
the election of a charismatic African-American to statewide office continues to raise eyebrows in many places, most especially here in Massachusetts. Deval Patrick’s march to the Corner Office drew national […]
Posted inArts and Culture, Economy
Anthony Flints This Land takes a whack at suburban sprawl
This Land:The Battle over Sprawl and the Future of AmericaBy Anthony FlintBaltimore, Johns Hopkins University Press, 310 pages with gov. mitt Romney a self-declared lame duck, it is by no […]
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Mayflower presents the Plymouth story as tragedy
Mayflower: A Story of Courage, Community, and WarBy Nathaniel PhilbrickNew York, Viking Press, 480 pagesWinter 2006 beneath the golden dome of the Massachusetts State House, tucked away safely in the […]
Posted inArts and Culture, Politics
Good Courts The Case for Problem Solving Justice proves that specialized courts can pay off
Good Courts: The case for Problem Solving Justice By Greg Berman and John Feinblatt, with Sarah Glazer New York, The New Press, 237 pages Winter 2006 During their required course […]
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Bread and Roses revisits a pivotal labor strike in Lawrence
Bread and Roses: Mills, Migrants, and the Struggle for the American DreamBy Bruce WatsonNew York, Viking, 352 pages Winter 2006 Bruce Watson, a journalist and author of The Man Who […]
Posted inArts and Culture, Health Care
The Rise and Fall of HMOs shows how a worthy idea went wrong
The Rise and Fall of HMOs: An American Health Care RevolutionBy Jan Gregoire CoombsMadison,Wisc., University of Wisconsin Press, 430 pages. This well-written and thoroughly researched book by an unusually knowledgeable […]
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Rooting for the home team
There have been many minor-league baseball teams in Massachusetts over the years, but right now the Bay State has a bumper crop. And it seems fair to say that the enthusiasm of their host communities—all of them some distance from the Boston metropolis, as measured by size and prosperity as well as by geography—has never been greater.
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Growing Pains
The Road to Whatever: Middle-Class Culture and the Crisis of Adolescence By Elliott Currie New York, Metropolitan Books, 320 pages. Criminologists have been so engaged in trying to explain and […]
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Can Boston survive without the Curse of the Bambino
Can Boston survive without feeling star-crossed? It’s time to find a new curse. The Bambino certainly held up his end of the deal. As curses go, the Babe’s was a […]
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A new book of essays celebrates Boston without glossing over the citys weaknesses
The Good City: Writers Explore 21st-Century Boston Edited by Emily Hiestand and Ande Zellman Boston, Beacon Press, 175 pages. July’s Democratic National Convention did not, as it turned out, produce […]
Posted inArts and Culture, Environment
The fatal Mill River flood was distressingly predictable
In the Shadow of the Dam: The Aftermath of the Mill River Flood of 1874By Elizabeth M. SharpeFree Press, New York, 304 pages. Although floods still rank as major killers […]
Posted inArts and Culture, Environment
The cleanup of Boston Harbor was surprisingly triumphant
Political Waters: The Long, Dirty, Contentious, Incredibly Expensive but Eventually Triumphant History of Boston Harbor—A Unique Environmental Success StoryBy Eric Jay DolinUniversity of Massachusetts Press, Amherst, 356 pages. At a […]
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An unsentimental look at teen parents in Pittsfield
Growing Up FastBy Joanna LipperPicador, New York, 432 pages. The Berkshires, or “America’s premier cultural resort,” as the region is referred to by the local Chamber of Commerce, is also […]
Posted inArts and Culture, Education
A timely look at the racial gap in American schools
No Excuses: Closing the Racial Gap in LearningBy Abigail Thernstrom and Stephan ThernstromSimon & Schuster, New York, 334 pages. This is a useful and timely, though ultimately somewhat disappointing, book […]
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A devastating picture of the teacher crisis
Who’s Teaching Your Children?Why the Teacher Crisis Is Worse Than You Think and What Can Be Done About ItBy Vivian Troen and Katherine C. BolesNew Haven, Yale University Press, 224 […]
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A celebration of doing nothing
The Importance of Being Lazy: In Praise of Play, Leisure, and VacationsBy Al GiniRoutledge, New York, 176 pages. Al Gini is a guy I’d like to have by my side […]
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Two books explore the achievement gap between white and minority students
Bridging the Achievement GapEdited by John E. Chubb and Tom LovelessBrookings Institution Press, Washington, DC, 236 pages.Young, Gifted, and Black: Promoting High Achievement Among African-American StudentsBy Theresa Perry, Claude Steele, […]
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Unions look for relevance in job training
Workforce Development and the New UnionismEdited by Penn Kemble; introduction by Morton BahrNew Economy Information Service, Washington, DC, 210 pages. The second half of 2002 showcased, in rapid sequence, the […]
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The glory days of cub reporting
First Job: A Memoir of Growing Up at WorkBy Rinker BuckPublic Affairs, New York, 396 pages. Several years ago I was at a reunion of journalism alumni at the University […]
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Looking backward at 2000
Utopia, from the Greek, means “not a place.” Edward Bellamy’s Looking Backward, in contrast, was his visualization of a real and better place, the society he thought Boston and the […]
