Mapping Boston [Hardcover]

Alex Krieger (Editor), David Cobb (Editor), Norman B. Leventhal (Foreword), Amy Turner (Contributor)

Book Description

Publication Date: September 10, 1999

To the attentive user even the simplest map can reveal not only where things are but how people perceive and imagine the spaces they occupy. Mapping Boston is an exemplar of such creative attentiveness--bringing the history of one of America's oldest and most beautiful cities alive through the maps that have depicted it over the centuries.The book includes both historical maps of the city and maps showing the gradual emergence of the New England region from the imaginations of explorers to a form that we would recognize today. Each map is accompanied by a full description and by a short essay offering an insight into its context. The topics of these essays by Anne Mackin include people both familiar and unknown, landmarks, and events that were significant in shaping the landscape or life of the city. A highlight of the book is a series of new maps detailing Boston's growth.The book also contains seven essays that explore the intertwining of maps and history. Urban historian Sam Bass Warner, Jr., starts with a capsule history of Boston. Barbara McCorkle, David Bosse, and David Cobb discuss the making and trading of maps from the sixteenth to the nineteenth century. Historian Nancy S. Seasholes reviews the city's remarkable topographic history as reflected in maps, and planner Alex Krieger explores the relation between maps and the physical reality of the city as experienced by residents and visitors. In an epilogue, novelist James Carroll ponders the place of Boston in contemporary culture and the interior maps we carry of a city.

Editorial Reviews

From Library Journal

This is not merely a remarkable corpus of period maps--it is a historical atlas of the physical, cultural, and historical evolution of Boston from its beginnings to the present day. Editors Krieger (urban planning and design, Harvard Univ.) and Cobb (head of the Harvard Map Collection) have gathered together a critical mass of map curators, architects, urban historians, and historical archaeologists to explore this history; their informative essays accompany 270 maps, portraits, aerial photographs, and other illustrations. In addition to an excellent index, the book also boasts "A Boston Chronology" that refers to relevant plates. An unusual and handsome resource, this book is highly recommended for all public and academic libraries--particularly those with emphases on cartography, Colonial America, or New England history collections. For a preview of the maps and the publication itself, visit (www.mappingboston.com).
-Edward K. Werner, St. Lucie Cty. Lib. Sys., Ft. Pierce, FL
Copyright 2000 Reed Business Information, Inc.

Review

"What a marvelous and immensely welcome book! The collection of maps is surpassing, and to have them so beautifully published in combination with such superb essays is cause for celebration for everyone who loves Boston and loves history. Mapping Boston is a perfect treasure." -- David McCullough

"What a marvelous and immensely welcome book! The collection of mapsis surpassing, and to have them so beautifully published in combinationwith such superb essays is cause for celebration for everyone who lovesBoston and loves history. Mapping Boston is a perfect treasure." -- David McCullough

See all Editorial Reviews

Product Details

• Hardcover: 292 pages
• Publisher: The MIT Press; 1 edition (September 10, 1999)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0262112442
• ISBN-13: 978-0262112444
• Product Dimensions: 12.3 x 11.8 x 1.6 inches
• Shipping Weight: 6.4 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.4 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (5 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #590,775 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
  • #97 in Books > Travel > United States > States > Massachusetts

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

28 of 30 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Read, look, enjoy, June 12, 2000

By 

"binyamin" - See all my reviews

This review is from: Mapping Boston (Hardcover)

It has rarely been my experience that a picture is worth a thousand words -- the best pictures often elicit no words at all. Maps, however, are different -- these, when well done, I would gladly substitute for the best prose. And those in Mapping Boston are absolutely superb, giving greater clarity to a wide range of topics than words ever could.

Boston, of all cities, must give historical cartographers fits -- the city's boundaries have changed so greatly over time as to render historical comparison a great challenge. But Mapping Boston succeeds wonderfully in helping the reader to understand the city's gradual evolution from peninsula to metropolis. The growth of the city, the changes in population and land utilization, Boston's shifting ethnic and economic face are all elucidated colorfully and clearly. The bottom line is that the lover of Boston history will revel in this volume; indeed, I expect most every resident of the area will derive considerable pleasure from it.

For those who do, I would also recommend Diana Muir's Reflections in Bullough's Pond, which does for the region around Boston what Mapping Boston does for the city itself: places it in context, gives it color, brings it to life.

31 of 35 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars A treasure!, October 1, 1999

By 

S. Stansel (Newburyport, MA) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Mapping Boston (Hardcover)

This book is simply gorgeous in design and exceptional in content. I can recommend it wholeheartedly to anyone interested in the history of Boston or in the evolution of maps of North America.

11 of 12 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Must have!, May 6, 2000

By 

Damon (Boston, MA USA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Mapping Boston (Hardcover)

This book beautifully portray's Boston's physical past, present and future through maps and photographs. The book does an excellent job showing how streets and shorelines through the years match to the present topography (a huge interest of mine when exploring the city). This book is for you if you love history and maps of Boston and New England. VERY WELL DONE!