This LGBTQ history of Boston and Provincetown begins with the coming of Europeans to Massachusetts in 1620 and ends with the victory over the referendum to overturn transgender rights in 2018. It includes the many high points of these four hundred years: the torrid romances of nineteenth century actress Charlotte Cushman, the glamorous nightlife of 1950s Boston, the wild times of 1970s Provincetown, and the great outpouring of happiness that accompanied the country's first same-sex marriages. And it describes the tragedies: murders of trans women and gay men, the terrible waves of repression of the 1920s, and the devastation of the AIDS years. It documents how LGBTQ people have been present in the region at least since the coming of Europeans and how LGBTQ people had developed a political consciousness and were advocating for their rights well over a century before Stonewall. This is an important book for anyone who has lived in or visited this historic city and fabulous resort or anyone who cares about the history of LGBTQ people.

The Hub of the Gay Universe: An LGBTQ History of Boston, Provincetown, and Beyond

History

Lopez, Russ

Americas

Shawmut Peninsula Press

The first history of the South End in over 100 years, this book covers everything from the coming of the first inhabitants shortly after the end of the ice age to the affluence of the 21st century. There are sections on its development and first age of posterity,its nearly 100 years when it was a rooming house and tenement district, urban renewal, and changes over the past several decades.

Boston's South End: The Clash of Ideas in a Historic Neighborhood

Russ Lopez

Against all oddes Boston revived itself to become one of the leading centers of the global economy. This book captures how rogue politicians, passionate neighborhood activists, new immigrants, and old time residents fought each other over issues large and small and in the process, preserved and improved their city. It covers the high points of the past seventy years: the revitalization of Faneuil Hall, the glory of the Red Sox winning the World Series in 2004, and the development of a powerhouse of research and innovation that attracts people from all over the world. And it includes the city's low points: the failure and trauma of urban renewal, the fight over busing and the schools, the displacement of long time residents, and the Marathon bombing in 2013. Along the way, you will meet intriguing and influential people such as James Michael Curley, Mel King, Thomas Menino, Whitey Bulger, Melnea Cass, Louise Day Hicks and many more. It is a story of how one city, seemingly in an unstoppable downward spiral, righted itself into something new.
In the later part of the nineteenth century, Boston was an economic and social powerhouse. But as World War II ended, the city was struggling. A third of Boston's housing was dilapidated, the economy, once thriving on the back of trade, textiles, and finance, was falling apart, and its politics had become a battle between two groups, the Irish and the Yankees, who hated each other. Conditions were well on their way to becoming even worse.
Yet the city did not die. By the end of the twentieth century, Boston was one of the most prosperous cities in the world with an economy based on education, medical research, and technology. The recessions of the twenty-first century barely touched its residents and its problems had shifted to how to accommodate growth and wealth without losing its poor and middle class residents. People now left the city because it was unaffordable.
The book tells the story of this turnaround. It includes the story of the Boston's Irish, Italians, Jews, and lesbian and gay people as well as how Latinos, Haitians, Vietnamese, and other groups arrived in the city and contributed to its revival. It analyzes the demographic, social, economic, and political trends that shaped this unique city. It is the gripping story of a special city.

Boston 1945-2015: The Decline and Rebirth of a Great World City

El Hermano

Literature & Fiction

Baca, Carmen

United States

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