From the food uprisings in the early 1700s to the notorious anti-busing riots in the mid-1970s, incidents of communal social violence have played a significant role in Boston's history. Jack Tager explores the more than 100 riots that occurred in the city over a span of nearly three centuries. Drawing on exhaustive research in newspaper archives, Jack Tager revisits both well- and lesser-known episodes, including the grain, impressment, brothel, and Pope Day riots of the eighteenth century; the anti-Catholic, abolition, and draft riots of the nineteenth century; and the Kosher meat, police strike, ghetto, and busing riots of the twentieth century. Tager identifies the protagonists, highlights their motives and demands, and seeks to determine whether they realized their goals. He also examines how victims suffered at the hands of their fellow citizens, shows how law enforcement responded to the riots, and considers the complex social interactions and tensions that contributed to the uprisings. He finds that most incidents of violent civil disorder were initiated by the powerless lower classes who believed rioting was the only avenue for giving voice to their grievances over political, cultural, religious, or economic oppression. This vivid portrait of an ever-changing community over time provides a revealing glimpse into peoples' anger, aspirations, and frustrations. It sheds new light on why groups are provoked to take unlawful action in response to unjust conditions, and it opens a fresh vista on the social history of Boston.

Boston Riots: Three Centuries of Social Violence

History

Tager, Jack

Americas

Northeastern University Press

Northeastern Univ Pr

From the moment the first English colonists landed on the shores of Plymouth Bay, the experiences of the people of Massachusetts have been emblematic of larger themes in American history. The story of the first Pilgrim thanksgiving is commemorated as a national holiday, while the Boston Tea Party and Paul Revere's ride have passed into the national mythology. Even the grimmer aspects of the American experience -- Indian warfare and the conquest of an ever expanding frontier -- were part of the early history of Massachusetts. In this book, Richard D. Brown and Jack Tager survey the rich heritage of this distinctive, and distinctly American, place, showing how it has long exerted an influence disproportionate to its size. A seedbed of revolt against British colonial rule, Massachusetts has supplied the nation with a long line of political leaders -- from Samuel and John Adams to William Lloyd Garrison and Lucy Stone to John, Robert, and Edward Kennedy. Its early textile mills helped shape the industrial revolution, while its experiences with urbanization, immigration, ethnic conflict, and labor strife reflected the growth of the national economy. In the twentieth century, the state continued to lead the country through a series of wrenching economic changes as it moved from the production of goods to the provision of services, eventually becoming a center of the high-tech revolution in telecommunications. If there is one common theme in the Bay State's history, Brown and Tager make clear, it is the capacity to adapt to change. In part this trait can be attributed to the state's unique blend of resources, including its many distinguished colleges and universities. But it can also be credited to the people themselves, who have created a singular sense of place by reconciling claims of tradition with the possibilities of innovation. This book tells their story.

Massachusetts: A Concise History

Brown, Richard D.

University of Massachusetts Press

Massachusetts at a Glance: A User's Guide to the Bay State

Designed for both residents and visitors, this book offers an alphabetically arranged compendium of information about people, places, and events -- past and present -- in the Commonwealth of Massachusetts. Its aim is to provide a handy one-volume reference guide to a state that has played a central role in American history since the Pilgrims landed at Plymouth Rock in 1620. 
Site of the first Thanksgiving in the seventeenth century and seedbed of revolutionary sentiment during the eighteenth, the Bay State became a center of industrialization during the nineteenth and of the high tech revolution during the twentieth. It has served as home to some of the nation's most renowned writers, from Henry David Thoreau and Ralph Waldo Emerson to Robert Lowell and Sylvia Plath, as well as some of its most prominent public figures, including Samuel Adams, Daniel Webster, W. E. B. Du Bois, and John F. Kennedy.
A professional historian with a long-standing interest in the history of Massachusetts, Jack Tager has organized the book to allow readers to find answers to questions in an efficient and reliable manner. He begins with a compilation of basic facts about Massachusetts, including population data drawn from the latest census, state motto and seal, even the state bird. This is followed by the main section of the book, an A-to-Z list of individuals, events, and sites of interest. 
Additional information about the state can be found in a year-by-year chronology of key historical developments, a statistical profile of the state's 351 towns and cities, and lists of the state's museums, historic sites, and state parks as well as its many colleges and universities, with addresses, telephone numbers, and websites for readers who might wish to contact these institutions directly. Finally, an extensive listing of suggested readings is included for those who would like to explore further any of the topics covered in the book.

Designed for both residents and visitors, this book offers an alphabetically arranged compendium of information about people, places, and events―past and present―in the Commonwealth of Massachusetts. Its aim is to provide a handy one-volume reference guide to a state that has played a central role in American history since the Pilgrims landed at Plymouth Rock in 1620. Site of the first Thanksgiving in the seventeenth century and seedbed of revolutionary sentiment during the eighteenth, the Bay State became a center of industrialization during the nineteenth and of the high tech revolution during the twentieth. It has served as home to some of the nation's most renowned writers, from Henry David Thoreau and Ralph Waldo Emerson to Robert Lowell and Sylvia Plath, as well as some of its most prominent public figures, including Samuel Adams, Daniel Webster, W. E. B. Du Bois, and John F. Kennedy. A professional historian with a long-standing interest in the history of Massachusetts, Jack Tager has organized the book to allow readers to find answers to questions in an efficient and reliable manner. He begins with a compilation of basic facts about Massachusetts, including population data drawn from the latest census, state motto and seal, even the state bird. This is followed by the main section of the book, an A-to-Z list of individuals, events, and sites of interest. Additional information about the state can be found in a year-by-year chronology of key historical developments, a statistical profile of the state's 351 towns and cities, and lists of the state's museums, historic sites, and state parks as well as its many colleges and universities, with addresses, telephone numbers, and websites for readers who might wish to contact these institutions directly. Finally, an extensive listing of suggested readings is included for those who would like to explore further any of the topics covered in the book.

See the best price to sell, buy, or rent books by Tager, Jack. BookScouter helps to compare book prices from 25+ online bookstores and 30+ buyback vendors with a single search.

Books by Tager, Jack

See the best price to sell, buy, or rent books by Tager, Jack. BookScouter helps to compare book prices from 25+ online bookstores and 30+ buyback vendors with a single search.

Boston Riots: Three Centuries of Social Violence

Boston Riots: Three Centuries of Social Violence

Massachusetts: A Concise History

Massachusetts at a Glance: A User's Guide to the Bay State

Massachusetts at a Glance: A User's Guide to the Bay State