The City-State of Boston: The Rise and Fall of an Atlantic Power, 16301865
(Paperback)
Available Formats
Publishing Details
The City-State of Boston: The Rise and Fall of an Atlantic Power, 16301865
By (Author) Mark Peterson
Princeton University Press
Princeton University Press
4th January 2021
United States
Classifications
General
Non Fiction
Social and cultural history
History of the Americas
974.46102
Physical Properties
Paperback
784
Width 156mm, Height 235mm
Description
A groundbreaking history of early America that shows how Boston built and sustained an independent city-state in New England before being folded into the United States
In the vaunted annals of America's founding, Boston has long been held up as an exemplary 'city upon a hill' and the 'cradle of liberty' for an independent United States. Wresting this revered metropolis from these misleading, tired cliches, The City-State of Boston highlights Boston's overlooked past as an autonomous city-state, and in doing so, offers a pathbreaking and brilliant new history of early America. Following Boston's development over three centuries, Mark Peterson discusses how this self-governing Atlantic trading centre began as a refuge from Britain's Stuart monarchs and how through its bargain with the slave trade and ratification of the Constitution it would tragically lose integrity and autonomy as it became incorporated into the greater United States.
The City-State of Boston peels away layers of myth to offer a startlingly fresh understanding of this iconic urban centre.
'[A] richly detailed history.' New Yorker
'Boldly original.' Alex Beam,Wall Street Journal
'An ambitious work based on prodigious research.' Virginia DeJohn Anderson,Times Literary Supplement
Reviews
"Winner of the James P. Hanlan Book Prize, New England Historical Association"
Author Bio
Mark Peterson is the Edmund S. Morgan Professor of History at Yale University. He is the author of The Price of Redemption: The Spiritual Economy of Puritan New England.
