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Nat Hentoff
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Boston Boy: Growing up with Jazz and Other Rebellious Passions Paperback – December 1, 2001

by Nat Hentoff (Author)
4.4 4.4 out of 5 stars 24 ratings
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Boston Boy is Nat Hentoff's memoir of growing up in the Roxbury section of Boston in the 1930s and 1940s. He grapples with Judaism and anti-Semitism. He develops a passion for outspoken journalism and First Amendment freedom of speech. And he discovers his love of jazz music as he follows, and is befriended by, the great jazz musicians of the day, including Duke Ellington and Lester Young among others.

"This memoir of [Hentoff's] youth should be appreciated not only by adults who grew up through the fires of their own youthful rebellion, but by those restless young people who are now bringing their own views and questions to the world they are inheriting. They could learn from this example that rebels can be gentle as well as enraged and compassionate in their commitment."—New York Times Book Review

"Nat Hentoff knows jazz. And it comes alive in this wonderful, touching memoir."—Ken Burns, creator of the PBS series Jazz

"[A] charmingly bittersweet memoir."—Boston Globe

"This is a touching book about a painful, wonderful time in Boston…I loved it."—Anthony Lewis

Nat Hentoff was born in Boston in 1925 and lived there until he moved to New York City at the age of twenty-eight. For many years he has written a weekly column for the Village Voice. His column for the Washington Times is syndicated in 250 newspapers, and he writes regularly about music for the Wall Street Journal. For twenty-five years, he was a staff writer for the New Yorker and for many years was a columnist for the Washington Post. His numerous books cover subjects ranging from jazz music and musicians to civil rights and civil liberties, on which he is a recognized authority. He was jazz critic at Down Beat and has written liner notes for many important jazz recordings. His work has won him honors not only from the music industry, but also from the American Bar Association and the American Library Association.
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  1. Print length
    212 pages
  2. Language
    English
  3. Publisher
    Paul Dry Books
  4. Publication date
    December 1, 2001
  5. Dimensions
    5.4 x 0.6 x 8.5 inches
  6. ISBN-10
    096796752X
  7. ISBN-13
    978-0967967523
  8. See all details
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4.4 out of 5 stars
24 global ratings

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Top reviews from the United States

  • Roger W. Winship
    5.0 out of 5 stars Another Boston Boy
    Reviewed in the United States on July 1, 2008
    Verified Purchase
    It's great to see a book like this. As another Boston boy, I had many similar experiences that have been hard and perhaps confusing to explain to someone who grew up in another time and place.
    My wife feels that she understands me better now after reading Boston Boy. We are giving copies to our sons.
    The book for me is nostalgic, poignant, and somewhat reassuring. Helps to understand that generation, that time, and that place. We made it in spite of the bastards.
    4 people found this helpful
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  • azlyn boyle
    4.0 out of 5 stars Boston Boy in the age of Jazz
    Reviewed in the United States on June 10, 2014
    Verified Purchase
    Some years ago I read the book by Nat Hentoff about the U.S educational system. It not
    only was very god, but quite humourous, as I recall. This memoir was good, but I
    wanted more of his life!
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  • Annie Winston
    5.0 out of 5 stars Nostalgic For A World I Missed
    Reviewed in the United States on April 20, 2016
    Verified Purchase
    Essential reading for Bostonians and musicians, esp jazz people. Learn about a Boston you probably never knew existed (as I did, and I've lived here all my life) and about the lost and wonderful world of Boston jazz.
    2 people found this helpful
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  • Eden Page
    4.0 out of 5 stars Boston Jazz and the South End
    Reviewed in the United States on July 21, 2008
    Once, jazz was a real and pervasive presence in Boston and in the dim and scruffy clubs of the South End, this American Music-par-excellence thrilled thousands of afficionados, while yet rarely affording its dedicated and colorful creators a living.
    It was the Twenties and the Jazz Age; it was the Thirties and the age of the Big Bands; it was the wartime Forties, the age of The Savoy on Mass Ave and of Sidney Bechet; it was the baby-boom Fifties and the age of Storeyville in Kenmore Square...
    There were Big Bands and great ballrooms but there were, as well, many talented smaller bands, playing inspired improvised jazz and struggling to survive as they enthralled more limited audiences in more limited venues.
    Nat Hentoff eloquently reminisces about a time when the soulful sound of trumpet and clarinet, piano and bass - pained, glorious, yearning, introspective, challenging, alien even - could inadvertently reach out of the smoky, dark, cave-like clubs of Washington and Columbus Avenues, and so mesmerize a young boy that it could change his life.
    Nat Henhoff blends this tale of a city, its cultural glories and its social sins, with the story of the music, light and dark, somber and witty, pure and besmirched - the faithful mirror of the human soul.
    He leaves one desolate that - much too soon! - things changed, and he leaves one wondering why Boston let it happen; why the city - host to The Berklee College of Music and the New England Conservatory, the Symphony as well as The Boston Pops - couldn't swiftly rally to support and, in time, to save a once-thriving Jazz community...
    Oh, economics and changing taste are the answer, of course, but one is left wishing that Boston had been able to sustain its local jazz scene and, failing that, wishing that it should presently choose, at the least and at last, to honor it with a South End Jazz Museum.
    Many of the greatest Jazz Musicians played there once and their presence or passage should not be forgotten.
    7 people found this helpful
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  • K.Taylor
    5.0 out of 5 stars Tremendous read!
    Reviewed in the United States on May 30, 2016
    Verified Purchase
    Nat Hentoff is a treasure. The book captures his formative years growing up in Boston, the anti-semitism, the bourgeoning jazz scene, his years in Bosotn radio. All good stuff. I highly recommend it.
    2 people found this helpful
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  • Louis Gudema
    5.0 out of 5 stars A terrific, short read
    Reviewed in the United States on November 30, 2002
    Nat Hentoff, who later became famous as a writer about jazz and civil liberties, describes his "coming of age" and discovery of jazz in the Boston of the 1940s. A very enjoyable read.
    5 people found this helpful
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  • C. M. Springer
    5.0 out of 5 stars One of my all-time favorite books!!
    Reviewed in the United States on September 12, 2022
    Verified Purchase
    As a Boston resident, this book was of particular interest to me. The author grew up in a generation closer to my parents' so it gave me a perspective of what life in this city was like during that time (although my parents did not live in Boston back then). It also focused on the ethnic prejudices that unfortunately have characterized Boston over the years, with various ethnic groups as the target. An added bonus is that the author loved jazz (as do I) and I recognized some of the clubs and acts that he mentioned. Also, the politics during that era, both national and local, were of great interest. Fascinating read -- thoughtful, articulate and peppered with humor. Highly recommend.
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