Charles Bahne (author); CHRONICLES OF OLD BOSTON; Museyon Guides (Nonfiction: Travel) 19.95 ISBN: 9780984633401
Byline: Melissa Anne Wuske
True tourism is more than souvenir shops and heavily branded bus tours. Bahne's book blends travel guide and historical record to help visitors and residents alike create a deep appreciation for Boston's past and present.
The Chronicles of Old Boston begins as the Puritans and John Winthrop found a city on a hill, and it continues through the shaping of Harvard and the full story of Paul Revere's ride, all the way to the presidency of John F. Kennedy. Each chapter is focused and detailed, as well as concise and engaging.
In addition to this solid historical basis for understanding present-day
Boston, Bahne includes intriguing and lesser-known stories and details, like the murder of Dr. Parkman and subsequent mistrial of Dr. Webster, the partnership between Alexander Graham Bell and Gardiner Green Hubbard, the molasses tank disaster in the North End, a list of the hacks on the MIT dome, the meeting of Martin Luther King and Coretta Scott, and even the reaction of fish to tea in the water.
Occasionally Bahne steps a bit too close to history, tingeing facts with opinion and inhibiting readers' ability to interpret for themselves. One example...
