For children, Make Way for Ducklings (Viking, 1941), by Robert McCloskey, is a classic that tells the story of Mrs. Mallard and her babies on the loose in the Back Bay and the Public Garden. Slightly older kids might know the Public Garden as the setting of part of The Trumpet of the Swan (HarperTrophy, 2000) by E. B. White. After reading it, a turn around the lagoon on a Swan Boat is mandatory. An excellent historical title is Johnny Tremain (Yearling, 1987) by Esther Forbes, a fictional boy's-eye-view account of the Revolutionary War era. The book vividly describes scenes from the American Revolution, many of which take place along the Freedom Trail.
For adults, two splendid Pulitzer Prize winners chronicle the city's history. Paul Revere and the World He Lived In (Mariner, 1999) is Esther Forbes's look at Boston before, during, and after the Revolution. Common Ground: A Turbulent Decade in the Lives of Three American Families (Vintage, 1986), by J. Anthony Lukas, is the definitive account of the busing crisis of the 1970s.
Architecture buffs will enjoy Cityscapes of Boston (Mariner, 1994) by Robert Campbell and Peter Vanderwarker; Lost Boston (Houghton Mifflin, 1999) by Jane Holtz Kay; and A.I.A. Guide to Boston (Globe Pequot, 1992) by Susan and Michael Southworth.
In the Memory House, by Howard Mansfield (Fulcrum, 1993), provides a penetrating look at New England's sometimes estranged relationship with its own past. Dona Brown, a University of Vermont professor, tells the epic tale of the rise of 19th-century tourism in New England in the uncommonly well-written study, Inventing New England (Smithsonian Books, 1997). The exhaustively researched Lobster Gangs of Maine (University Press of New England, 1988), by James M. Acheson, answers every question you'll have about lobstermen's lives. Northern Borders (Mariner, 1992), by Howard Frank Mosher, is ostensibly about a young boy living with his taciturn grandparents in northern Vermont, but the book's central character is really Vermont's Northeast Kingdom. The way to a region's character is through its stomach. John and Matt Lewis Thornes' finely crafted essays on Maine regional cooking in Serious Pig (North Point Press, 2000) are exhaustive discussions of chowder, beans, pie, and more.
