1 comments about Beacon Hill: The Life and Times of a Neighborhood.

1. A great book from the pictures to the well-written text. A nice glimpse at how Beacon Hill has evolved and thrived since its origin. Written with feeling and flows like a novel!

2 comments about From Puritan to Yankee: Character and the Social Order in Connecticut, 1690-1765.

1. In England, the Puritans defied church and state. In America, ironically, the Puritans established colonies which came to emphasize deference to authority. In colonial New England, a rough equality in condition eased most tensions of hierarchy in status. By the eve of the Revolution, however, several factors--religious, political, economic and demographic--worked to rekindle the Puritan tradition of agitation and radicalism. The Protestant emphasis on the authority of individual conscience was revived. Richard L. Bushman explores these developments in Connecticut, providing a colorful social portrait. He brings to life arguments and controversies, illuminating the convictions and feelings of each side. Bushman's work proves very informative and quite readable.



2. This book is a wonderful addition for the amateur genealogist of Connecticut families. Many things are explained here that flesh out the "facts" gleaned from documents about various family members. I particularly found helpful the discussion on property and town formations.

3 comments about A Rabble in Arms: Massachusetts Towns and Militiamen during King Philip's War (Warfare and Culture).

1. Zelner's text proves that the old values of social history, combined with new perspectives on war and society, can produce important new additions to the historical landscape. The impressive leg-work that must have gone into the production of this book certainly pay off in its results. The assumption of the democratic status of the early American militia, and society more generally, is proven false. The society Zelner portrays is far more complex; at times petty, at times genuinely conflicted, the tragedy of war and the choices it forces communities to make are vividly described. This book would be a welcome addition to any historian of war and society, early America, or social history. Zelner should be particularly applauded for his contextualization of the American experience in its English (and colonial) context. An impressive display of scholarship in a genuinely readable format.



2. Names, Places, in our history. If you have family from Massachusetts or delight in learning about this countries early history in a personal way, this is the book for you!



3. A RABBLE IN ARMS: MASSACHUSETTS TOWNS AND MILITIAMEN DURING KING PHILIP'S WAR
   Kyle F. Zelner
   New York University Press, 2009
   Hardcover, $50.00, 325 Pages, Illustrations, Maps, Appendices, Tables, Bibliography, Notes
   
   
   The militia in the English colonies evolved from the ancient Anglo-Saxon fyrd, which was based on the obligation of every member of society to participate in the common defense. After the Norman Conquest in 1066, the military responsibilities of the militia, as the Latinized fyrd was called, gradually dwindled as medieval monarchs relied more and more on mercenaries and a hereditary warrior class to fight their wars. By 1600, the English militia was essentially moribund. Only a fraction of the middle and upper classes were enrolled; training was infrequent and ineffective; and weapons were scarce and often obsolete. The peculiar nature of the English colonial experience in North America led to a revival of the militia in the New World. Because the early English colonies were under-capitalized commercial enterprises rather than government projects, the colonists couldn't rely on royal military forces or expensive mercenaries for protection. As no one else would defend them, they had to defend themselves. The initial landing parties in Chesapeake Bay and New England usually included veterans of the wars in Ireland or the Netherlands, such as John Smith and Miles Standish. Their responsibility was to train the rest of the colonists in the military arts and provide military leadership in times of crisis. As the years passed and the early colonies became established, these ad hoc military arrangements were formalized by law and custom into English-style militias. The early settlements at Jamestown, Plymouth, and Massachusetts Bay weren't products of cross-Atlantic military assaults on hostile New World beachheads, but colonizing efforts by civilians for whom a professional military was anathema. Thus, as civilian-colonists whose only thoughts were of self-protection, their fundamental military organization was simple, defensive in nature, and based on the long-held English tradition of a citizen-soldiery, or militia. Militia represented a classical (and biblical) tradition of free people dropping scythes and shouldering weapons to defend hearth and home against invaders; then, the battle won, of returning to resume cutting hay. For a people with neither resources nor inclination-based on both religious and secular philosophical convictions-to maintain full-time defenders, a community-based militia wholly made up of citizen-soldiers dovetailed prefectly with their basic credos. Initially, militia service was universal. Varying slightly from colony to colony, every able-bodied male from 16 to 60 (which sometimes included slaves and indentured servants) was expected to keep and maintain a firearm and sufficient ammunition, and to willingly appear for regularly schedule drill. In a new book, A RABBLE IN ARMS: MASSACHUSETTS TOWNS AND MILITIAMEN DURING KING PHILIP'S WAR, author Kyle F. Zelner provides an insightful portrayal of Massachusetts soldiery in one of the most important but overlooked wars in this nation's history-King Philip's War. Drawing on muster and pay lists as well as numerous historical records, Zelner demonstrates that Essex County's more upstanding citizens, such as yeoman farmers, church members, and family heads, were often spared from impressments, while the "rabble"-criminals, drunkards, the poor-were forced to join active fighting u8nits, with town militia committees selecting soldiers who would be least missed should they die in action. He carefully peels away myths that have been reinforced so strongly through the mediums of popular culture (literature, movies, and television) that fact and fiction have blurred, but the reality was quite different. Zelner's book is a welcome addition to the literature of pre-Revolutionary War America.
   
   
   Lt. Colonel Robert A. Lynn, Florida Guard
   Orlando, Florida

1 comments about Digging for Genealogical Treasure in New England Town Records.

1. I confess, this is not the book I thought it was going to be. I was expecting an update of Marcia Wisall's standard (but rapidly becoming outdated) _Genealogist's Handbook for New England Research_ (3d ed, 1993), but the author tells you right up front that this is a different book. New England research -- to which I came late, since it was only a few years ago that I discovered that not quite all my ancestors were Southerners -- centers on the records of the town, or township, not the county. In fact, except in Maine, it's impossible to live "out in the county," in the sense of residing outside the city limits and being subject to county laws instead of city ordinances. Every county in New England is divided into townships and, historically, that's where most of the most useful records have been created, since the beginning of settlement. The town clerk's office is usually in the town hall, but in the old days the clerk often kept his records at home; that still may be the case in the very smallest towns. Many local libraries and state archives have copies of the early records, and the LDS, naturally, has filmed most (but not all) of them. In any case, wherever they may be physically located, the town records include not only birth, death, and marriage records -- which have been covered in great depth elsewhere, so Lainhart completely ignores them here -- but also all the records that relate to the business of the town: Election of town officers, town business, land grants, boundary and border disputes, manumissions, adoptions, treasurer's records, tax and assessor's records, licenses of all kinds, cattle marks, chattel mortgages, school records, church records (especially before the disestablishment of religion), military and militia records, and especially the poor records, which are the author's special interest. Each type of record gets its own brief chapter, explaining what it relates to and giving anecdotal examples (which are worth reading by themselves). A lengthy appendix details the powers and duties of town officers, of which there were many, including Overseer of the Poor, Surveyor of the Highways, Surveyor of Shingles and Clapboard, Fence Viewer, Clerk of the Market, Deer Reeve, Salt-Measurer, and not to forget the Weigher of Onions. These really aren't as silly as they may sound, not in the proper maintenance of a peaceful town in which everyone depended on everyone else for survival. So, while it wasn't what I had been hoping for, this turns out to be a very interesting and very useful volume, and I expect to refer to it frequently as I delve into my mid-17th century heritage.

1 comments about Researching Your Colonial New England Ancestors.

1. For close to 10 years I have been researching a great-great-great-great-grandfather. And another g-g-g-g-grandfather on the maternal side for close to 8 years -- and for the FIRST time in a LONG time, I actually have a plan of action!!!! Chapter Two is titled "Finding Information on Your Colonial Ancestors". Two sentences and the action item list starts -- 9 things to do. Now some of them I've seen in various forms but not THIS concise and straight forward.
   
   Chapter One has info on the colonial calendar. For genealogical research, one looks for dates -- we LOVE dates. Well let's just say that George Washington was born on Feb 11 AND on Feb 22!!! And she explains how and why! And you understand it immediately! Which may explain why you have two birth dates for some early ancestor.
   
   How to research colonial records - the very first bullet I'm sure I've read before. Probably many times but clearly states to not research your ancestor but to research the ***jurisdictions*** and records. Well, duh! Makes sense but I'm totally guilty of what she said NOT to do.
   
   Well sourced, tons of references -- this was published in 2006. I'm delighted I ordered this book -- I haven't even read it in any detail yet and absolutely KNOW it is going to be one that I reference again and again.

4 comments about The Old Leather Man: Historical Accounts of a Connecticut and New York Legend (Garnet Books).

1. Very informative and enjoyable. Brings local history alive for us. Service was excellent as usual.



2. I grew up roaming the same woods that the Leather Man shuffled through one hundred years earlier. As a young man we would visit his caves, read and tell tales of his adventures, whether embellished by us or not, his story was always fascinating. "The Old Leather Man: Historical Accounts of a Connecticut and New York Legend" is an incredible assemblage of newspaper, personal and photographic first hand documentations of this mysterious historical figure. Dan W. DeLuca's obvious years of research and passion for the subject is plainly evident in the thoroughness and completeness that he brings to this biographic accounting of an enigmatic, almost mythical person dead some 130 years. DeLuca puts to rest Victorian embellishments to this lonely man's legend and attempts in the end to construct a more truthful picture of who the Leather Man really was. Great reading for anyone interested in New England history, a closer bond with the dark forested hills and tales of silent wanderers therein who's real identity we will probably never know.



3. The Leatherman had a circuitous route from the Hudson to the Connecticut Rivers. He would show up in the same location every 35 with amazing punctuality. The book is rich with old photographs, period street map and newspaper clippings. It needs a detailed map showing his route and camping sites.



4. Great collection of information on Old Leather Man... agreed it should have a detailed map of the route, outling camps, etc.

2 comments about The Genealogist's Internet: New and Expanded.

1. I borrowed the second edition from the local library and have decided to buy the third edition. While the reviews of software and how to set up a website can become a little dated, you only need get one or two good ideas out of a book like this to make it more than worth the cost.



2. The Internet is perhaps the greatest innovation in the past hundred years for the amateur or professional genealogist. "The Genealogist's Internet" is an updated and expanded fourth edition of this acclaimed reference for the genealogist who embraces the internet as an invaluable tool. Outlining major resources to look for, joining discussion groups to aid one's search, sifting through general information, and more, "The Genealogist's Internet" is a must have reference for those who want to use the internet to its fullest.

3 comments about Ancestral Roots of Certain American Colonists Who Came to America before 1700. Lineages from Afred the Great, Charlemagne, Malcolm of Scotland, Robert ... other Historical Individuals. Eighth Edition.

1. This book has an extreme amount of valuable information contained in it, but for the novice researcher, you may want to wait on this one. There's no plot to this book, simply titles, dates & places of birth/death, spouses and parents. Occasionally you'll get tidbits like 'participant in War of 1066' or 'Sheriff of Berkley Castle'.



2. Just cut to the chase. This book is in its 8th edition due to the devotion of Weis and his colleagues who carry on his life work. Do NOT spend hundreds of dollars buying research that the geneologist gathers from free online sources. FIRST, if you have ancestors from Massachusetts, New York, Maine, Vermont, New Hampshire, Rhode Island, Conneticutt and Virginia you very probably are descended from or cousin to many lines documented from about 350 A.D. Gallo Roman period right through to the Pilgrims, Puritans, etc. Why? Because as Nathaniel Philbrook states in his book, 'Mayflower,' 35 million AMericans are descended from the 52 survivors of the first winter in Plymouth. Why are they related to uddles of British and continental nobles? Because the some 2,000 Norman families who ruled England married the rest of Europes nobles and by 1600 they had grown to 20,000 and had more spare children than Davey Crooket has money. The spares took up Puritism and or wanted to flip properties in the new world. SECOND, load up a good family tree software program (about $30.00)... Spent 2 years entering...



3. For anyone who has a link from New England to England of any of the colonists listed at the beginning of the book, this is an essential book. The eighth edition is the best of the editions. The amount of research it took to gather all the information is amazing. It is great to see that more recent researchers are carrying on in the tradition of Frederick Lewis Weis. I bought it new on amazon.com, and have used it extensively. It has post-it notes sticking out of half the pages, since I seem to end up looking at just about every other page. The resources given are excellent, and I'm glad they have given plenty of resources for each entry. If I want more information, I know where to go.

3 comments about Plymouth Colony: Its History and People.

1. In doing research on my own ancestor who was a passanger on the Mayflower and one of the original Pilgrims, I have used over 50 books. This one is by far the best. Very readable, this book provides an excellent narative of many of the events of the first 70 years at Plymouth, and detailed descriptions of many of the Pilgrims. For anyone interested in this era, this book is a must.



2. There are hundreds of books out there about the Pilgrims and the first Thanksgiving and all that goes with the subject. But the majority of these books are written either in a stodgy, encyclopedic (read: Boring!) format, or they are written for children. Well, now I have one that is actually written for adults, as well as in an easy to read manner. Written mainly from a genealogical stance, the author, Eugene Aubrey Stratton, did his "putting flesh on the bones" research; that is, he sought out how the pilgrims lived their daily lives in all aspects of their time and place. Instead of the cartoonish figures we all see come November, Mr. Stratton actually gives an authentic look to these early Americans. He makes the reader feel that they now know the pilgrims, not only through their historical prominence in our early history, but by name, and we feel their hardships, especially of their first winter here. After the first time reading this book, I re-read it, only this time I read the 'Biographical Sketches' section, located toward the back of the book, first, THEN I went to the beginning. My advice to the first time reader is to do the same. You will then know who you are reading about as names are mentioned.
   This book is, simply put, the best of its kind. Maybe more genealogists should write our history books! At least they bring history to life!



3. My husband & I are both descended from The Mayflower - He from William Brewster & Stephen Hopkins and I from William Bradford. This book has added so much information for our Genealogy. I cannot tell you how many times I have used it to add information to our family history file. It has many years of use.

5 comments about Harvard Square: An Illustrated History Since 1950.

1. This is a great trip for those who remember or worked in Harvard Square any time during the last 50 years. It's full of great photos and the text--including historical background and personal reflections--is very well-written. The book is arranged chronologically and it's fascinating (and often depressing) to see the how much the Square changed over the years.
   I worked in Harvard Square for several years in the Coop record department. It was a kind of cultural crossroads in those days, and many people remember it. Mr Lotman's book could have given more attention to that department, but I can't fault him too much for that since he includes so much other great material. My only real complaint is with the tiny mini-maps found on most pages. Even with a magnifying glass, they are much too hard to see. A larger, pull-out map of the Square would have been a better idea. Apart from that, this is a terrific book and I wondered why it hadn't been done long before.



2. If you'd like to wander down memory lane looking at photographs of businesses, mostly shops and restaurants, that the author enjoyed, this is the book for you. There's some mention and pictures of various new commercial buildings going up. But the book repeatedly covers the same places, like the Hong Kong Restaurant, while never mentioning Underdog, Goods, or Ta Chien. There are a few pages about the folk movement (based around the venues), the 60s riots (stores were damaged), the building of the new T station and extension, and a couple of the buskers. I was expecting something else, a real history of the square, with architecture, facts, etc. based on the title. Endless slightly different photos of the same streetscapes a few years apart got very old, I could tell that the author put a LOT of work into finding photos, researching when certain stores opened, closed, and information about their owners, but there's just too much missing. If you're looking for the history of the Square in more general terms, this isn't it.



3. Harvard Square: An Illustrated History Since 1950 offers an oversized, visual journey through one of this country's must influential public places, offering a decade-by-decade account of the events and people of Harvard Square. It will earn its place in any library strong in regional American or Massachusetts history, featuring fine photos and interviews with over a hundred of the people who influenced the square's history and development.



4. Hi:
   Excellent book. Brought back many memories of my working and socializing in Harvard Square from the 60's on. It was about time something like this was published. Great pictures!!!!



5. If you've ever spent any time in Harvard Square, the heart of Cambridge, this is a treasure of a book. It is well organized, with interesting commentary on what was happening when, as well as terrific photos of Harvard Square as it changed over the years. This book has provided many hours of nostalgic wandering down memory lane.