IMPROPER BOSTONIANS CL

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Since the 17th century, Boston has played a vital role in the history of the United States as a center of society and intellectual ferment. So it's not surprising that the city also has a deeply rooted gay and lesbian culture. Improper Bostonians is a lavishly illustrated, astutely researched look at the role that homosexuals have played in constructing Boston society. From the private homoerotic letters of John Winthrop (the first Governor of Massachusetts) to the 19th-century concept of the "Boston Marriage"--the widely-used term for two unmarried women living together as partners--to the open and brash gay and lesbian life that existed in Boston's notorious Scully Square in the 1920s and 1930s, Improper Bostonians deftly shows how gay men and lesbians were always present in the social, political, and intellectual life of the city.

But as smart as its text is, the best feature of the book is its stunning array of engravings, paintings, news clippings, and photographs (many from personal collections) illustrating the book's themes. Looking over the portraits of politicians, poets (including Katherine Lee Bates, author of "America the Beautiful"), and performers one is reminded that gay and lesbian history is really not a separate category, but a single aspect of our collective history. --Michael Bronski

Book Description

A Harvard student expelled for cross-dressing in the early 1600s, 17th-century citizens fined for same-sex cohabitation, touring female impersonators of the nineteenth century, early 20th-century women who passed as men and married other women . . . Surprising, fun, and magnificently illustrated, Improper Bostonians is the first book to depict the last three centuries of gay and lesbian life in Boston - the American city with the longest recognized history of gay and lesbian life - and is the most comprehensive and meticulously researched gay city history ever written.

Customer Reviews:

Genderization of Improper Bostonians Out of Synch.......1999-02-26

Improper Bostonians bravely leaps to conjectures which gaydar identifies as gay personalities, missing no few of course in a small work. One miss, however, is Boston's International Homophilics Institute and its enormous Encyclopedia Homophilica -- now coming out at South Bank University in London, neither of which the authors bothered to consult (and missed much for that reason). One can only surmise that this was intentional and because IHI is Essentialist rather than Effeminist and would have offended the postmodernist sensibilities of the compilers (as well as the politician). The attempt to force present-day 'genderality' upon the 17th and 18th centuries is hopelessly acontextual. Multicultural postgenderists can't toss 20th-C bodies into a 17th-C spider and expect to get the same chowder, obviously; but resultantly, we get a stew, a Mitteleuropaisch adaptation of Novanglian culture that tastes startingly foreign -- and all the more interesting to Yankees for that I'm sure. Notwithstanding, there are few errors and many sure-footed aurexical leaps which will leave the reader breathless. The compilers have done a remarkable job salvaging homophilica which homophobes should never have attempted to suppress. Sooner or later, all homophobes get caught out with their lies -- and in this Improper Bostonians is a triumph.

Henry James : Novels 1881-1886: Washington Square, The Portrait of a Lady, The Bostonians (Library of America)

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"Washinton Square" by Henry James

Henry James : Novels 1881-1886: Washington Square, The Portrait of a Lady, The Bostonians (Library of America)
Henry James
Manufacturer: Library of America
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover

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ASIN: 0940450305

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This volume in the Library of America's series on Henry James catches the author as he inaugurates his "middle period," the years when he wrote many of his best books. The three novels reprinted here concern women who must choose between competing alternatives. Catherine Sloper of Washington Square, plain and bookish, is romanced by the dashingly handsome Morris Townsend. But her father, sure that such a man could only love Catherine for her money, forbids her to see him. The young heroine of The Bostonians is torn between loyalty to her southern beau and her attraction to one of James's most unusual characters: a wealthy Boston feminist!

The Portrait of a Lady, arguably James's greatest novel, introduces us to Isabel Archer, a beautiful, vivacious, and independently minded American woman who travels to Europe and is seduced by its society. Her circle includes her terminally ill but deeply loving cousin, Ralph; the noble and adoring Lord Warburton; her witty and sarcastic friend Henrietta Stackpole; the meticulous aesthete Gilbert Osmond; the mysterious Madame Merle; and Caspar Goodwood, her passionate American suitor. Negotiating between the life each of them offers and represents, Isabel becomes part of one of the best books written about women's choices.

Movie buffs will be particularly interested in this volume, for all the novels in it have been made into films. The Bostonians was a Merchant-Ivory production in 1984. It starred Vanessa Redgrave as the feminist Olive Chancellor, sparring with southern gentleman Christopher Reeve! The Portrait of a Lady (1996), with Nicole Kidman and John Malkovich, was Jane Campion's opulent follow-up to The Piano. And Washington Square has been made into two major movies: the 1997 version starred Jennifer Jason- Leigh and Albert Finney; but the classic adaptation was William Wyler's 1949 film The Heiress, which starred Montgomery Clift, Ralph Richardson, Miriam Hopkins, and Olivia de Havilland in an Oscar-winning role. It's a real treat to read a superb book and then see how major filmmakers transform it into cinema that is compelling and entertaining it its own right. --Raphael Shargel

Customer Reviews:

"Washinton Square" by Henry James.......1999-11-19

I enjoyed "Washington Square" thoroughly. I believe any highschool student should read this if they are looking for a "book" report. I found it captivating and I couldn't put the book down. However I was a little disappointed in how the ending turned out, but what can I do?

The Bostonians (Oxford World's Classics)

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The Bostonians
Interesting 20th Century update
excellent read

The Bostonians (Oxford World's Classics)
Henry James
Manufacturer: Oxford University Press, USA
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

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ASIN: 0192834428

Book Description

From Boston's social underworld emerges Verena Tarrant, a girl with extraordinary oratorical gifts, which she deploys in tawdry meeting-houses on behalf of 'the sisterhood of women.' She acquires two admirers of a very different stamp: Olive Chancellor, devotee of radical causes, and marked
out for tragedy; and Basil Ransom, veteran of the Civil War, with rigid views concerning society and women's place therein. Is the lovely, lighthearted Verena made for public movements or private passions? A struggle to possess her, body and soul, develops between Olive and Basil.

The exploitation of Verena's unregenerate innocence reflects a society whose moral and cultural values are failing to survive the new dawn of liberalism and democracy. The Bostonians (1886) was not welcomed by James's fellow countrymen, who failed to appreciate its delicacy and wit; but a century
later, this book is widely regarded as James's finest American fiction, and perhaps his comic masterpiece.

Customer Reviews:

The Bostonians.......2007-09-28

Hilarious and touching satire from master novelist Henry James. Watching James pull off a subtly changing point of view as the novel progresses is in itself worth the price of admission.

Interesting 20th Century update.......2006-11-24

Haven't read the book yet, but now I want to. I watched a moderately good movie last week called THE CALIFORNIANS, and before returning it to the video store, I saw on the back that the story line was taken from The Bostonians by Henry James. (The story involves a brother and sister with the last name of Ransom, he a developer, sister, Olive, an eco-activitst, with a sweet young folksinger caught in the rivaly between them. Reading the synopsis of the novel, I could definitely see the connections. I am sure the book is better!

excellent read.......2003-05-29

Memorable duel of wills between 2 stubborn forces in control of a pliable public speaker... One of James' stonger pieces; every word counts so read them carefully. His narration is stuffed with swirling ideas, pinpoint social commentary and sly asides; all floating inside his trademark beautiful prose. Olive versus Basil: there's a literary wrestling match for the ages. Great stuff

Old Boston in Early Photographs, 1850-1918: 174 Prints from the Collection of the Bostonian Society

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Old Boston in Early Photographs, 1850-1918: 174 Prints from the Collection of the Bostonian Society
Philip Bergen
Manufacturer: Dover Publications
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

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ASIN: 0486261840

Book Description

Rare vintage views document oldest major American city: Boston Common, Faneuil Hall, Paul Revere's House, Back Bay, Scollay Square, India Wharf, Quincy Market, Public Garden, numerous other sites and locales, many no longer extant. Informative introduction and detailed captions. Maps.

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****... almost *****
Boston Was Full Of Feminists: But James Was Not One Of Them
Insightful read.
Glad I stumbled on to this one
Henry James is relevant today.

The Bostonians (Penguin Classics)
Henry James
Manufacturer: Penguin Classics
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

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ASIN: 0140437665
Release Date: 2001-02-27

Book Description

One of James's most contentious novels and one of the few to be set wholly in America, The Bostonians also stands out from James's other fictions because it focuses on a burning social issue-the woman question-and explores its ramifications both within the lives of the individual characters and in the greater context of American society.

Touching on a wealth of subjects that resonate today-including the seeming contradictions between feminism and sexuality, lesbianism, and male chauvinism-The Bostonians is at once a witty dissection of human follies and foibles and a serious contemplation of the human condition and the eternal battle of the sexes.

In addition to the Introduction, this edition includes a chronology, explanatory notes, and two appendices: an extract from De Tocqueville on democratic despotism and a chapter from James's The American Scene (1907).

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Satirical novel by Henry James, published serially in Century Illustrated Magazine in 1885-86 and in book form in three volumes in 1886. It was one of the earliest American novels to deal--even obliquely--with lesbianism. Olive Chancellor, a Boston feminist in the 1870s, thinks she has found a kindred spirit in Verena Tarrant, a beautiful young woman who, though passive and indecisive, is a spellbinding orator for women's rights. Olive vies for Verena's attention and affections with Basil Ransom, a gracious but reactionary Confederate army veteran. Verena marries Basil and leaves Boston. The Bostonians is based on Alphonse Daudet's novel L'Evangeliste (1883); James transposed the work to Boston and to the milieu of the rising feminist movement

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****... almost *****.......2006-08-15

"The Bostonians", a novel from the middle period of Henry James' writing career, was apparently not appreciated for a long time. It is, in a way, not surprising, because the criticism of his contemporaries is very acute there. It is good, however, that later on this novel got the praise, which it undoubtedly deserves.

Set in Boston of the end of nineteenth century, after the Civil War, the book tells the story of Verena Tarrant, a fresh, innocent young woman of extraordinary oratory talent. She is a daughter of a "mesmeric healer", who trains her for performance. Verena can captivate the audience with her speeches, not necessarily because of their content, but because of her beauty and appeal. During one of the early private shows, she gets the attention of Olive Chancellor, a slightly older woman devoted to the cause of feminism. She befriends Verena, takes her under her wing (paying her parents considerable sums of money) and trains her to give lectures about suffrage and the freedom of women, hoping to live with Verena continuously, forming what was then called a "Boston marriage" (James' sister formed such union with another woman).

Unfortunately for Olive, at the same show Verena catches the eye of her cousin from the Mississippi, Basil Ransom, a conservative lawyer and a veteran of the civil war from the Southern side. He wants to marry Verena, which means the betrayal of Olive's ideals...

James again succeeded in portraying the typical society members with irony and wit. Interestingly, the female characters prevail in this novel and each of them is unique - wealthy and educated, but stubborn and limited in her artificial want of progress Olive, natural, innocent and, ultimately, silly Verena, Mrs Adeline Luna, Olive's sister, who, being a merry widow, represents everything what Olive despises, old Miss Birdseye, a precursor of the women's movement (based on a real figure, Miss Elizabeth Peabody), or my favorite, Doctor Prance, who is really the personification of the ultimate goal of the movement (she is a professional, no-nonsense woman), but sees the absurdity of Olive's actions very clearly. The only fully developed male character in "The Bostonians" is Basil Ransom; the other few are merely sketched types (like Matthias Pardon, the journalist, Henry Burrage, the Harvard boy, or Selah Tarrant, Verena's father). There are also many such sketched female types, which give in total an extraordinary array of figures. All the main characters are very human, not being unanimously good or bad, but possessing multifaceted, complex personalities. They are also not undoubtedly likeable or despicable, however, Verena with all her faults is probably the nicest, and Olive the most pathetic (James seems rather critical of the feminist movement in the form described in his novel, seemingly treating it as a whim of idle women from the higher class and opposing them reasonable women like Dr Prance; despite the obvious achievements of the movement which we see now, there is something to his opinion).

The historical Boston (the action takes place mainly in the city and its suburbs, Cambridge, the home of Verena's parents, and Roxbury, where Miss Birdseye lives; Olive lives on Charles Street - all the locations are introduced with their social meaning of the time; apart from that some events take place in New York City and on Cape Cod) is described amazingly (the Oxford World's Classics edition has also a city plan at the end), which adds to the historical value of the novel. The only flaw for the modern reader, used to the fast action, may be the slow pace and many descriptions of places, emotions, characters - this is the book which should be tasted with pleasure, not rushed through.

Boston Was Full Of Feminists: But James Was Not One Of Them.......2006-08-14

By the time Henry James had written THE BOSTONIANS in 1886, he was well in his mid section of novel writing. Most of his "American" novels were done but in this one for the first time he chose to use the burgeoning feminist movement as a backdrop for the plot. There is nothing in the story to suggest that James carried a warm place in his heart for feminism. In fact in the character of Olive Chancellor, James seems only too delighted to point out the foilbles of this leader of Boston's feminist movement.

Henry James knew well the importance that Boston held to American political and social history. Olive Chancellor is a product of what she sees as the proud history of that city. She sees herself as the latest torchbearer of a school of thought that began with Thoreau and Emerson. And the latest sparkle to the torch is feminism. Olive is perceptive enough to recognize that she cannot carry the torch by herself so she seeks someone to whom she may safely pass it. This someone is Verena Tarrant, a young and attractive protege whose own flaws are totally unseen by Olive. To begin with, Verena is very much like an "unliberated" woman of today. She is hip, cool, and well-dressed, but she has no tradition of any sort behind her upon which Olive can build. Further, her chief goal in life is to get married, a distinctly unfeminine trait. Complicating Olive's incessant moralizing to Verena, Basil Ransom enters as a handsome lawyer who quickly falls for Verena and she for him. Basil is the male equivalent of Verena. He has scarcely a thought in his head that does not involve winning a case or winning Verena's heart. In the battle between Olive and Basil for the heart and soul of Verena, there is no contest. By the end of the novel, Basil literally sweeps and swoops Verena off her feet and out of town, leaving a disconsolate Olive to ponder her doleful future.

James slowly builds THE BOSTONIANS up to a crescendo of irony. When one considers how much time Olive has spent with Verena inculcating her with feminist thought, one would think that at least part of Olive's exuberance would have rubbed off. The very last page shows James at his ironic best. Basil is a typical macho man who expects his wife to be in the kitchen or the bedroom, without many other stops in between. When he sweeps Verena off her feet, she is at first glad that she chose Basil over Olive, but then "she was in tears. It is to be feared that with the union, so far from brilliant, into which she was about to enter, these were not the last she was destined to shed." The future for Verena contrapuntally indicates James' own ideas about the lasting power and effect of feminism upon impressionable female minds.

Insightful read........2006-08-13

This book is about a couple of women who help shine a light on women's rights movement in the 19th century. It takes place in New England. Henry James is an excellent writer. They way he digs into the minds of his characters really alows you to see them like as if you were their god. Read the book prior to watching the movie; it seemes to me that the movie comes off as a little obsessive; references to Ms. Chancellor come off homosexual and attached to Verena Tarrant which isn't true. The ending to the book and how Verena feels about the decision she has made will also suprise you because it will give you a deeper insight about the meaning for Verenas decision and her personal reflections whereas in the movie you really can't tell what she's thinking. Prior to reading the book, when I watched the movie, my feeling was that Henry James may have been synical about women and their sex but he isn't. Henry James empowers women allowing the world to see that even in the 19th century, when people thought that women were of very little use outside of the kitchen, that they are actually intellectual, brilliant and very insightful, as you may observe in his other works. He doesn't make his female characters look or act MAD but rather sincere.

Glad I stumbled on to this one.......2005-04-15

I picked this one up out of the bin because it sounded somewhat familiar. I would have never picked out a story that revolved around the women's' rights movement during the 19th century unless it was nonfiction.

This book is a treat through and through. The characters are deep, the language interesting and the prose witty. It has a very simple plot, but the journey is great. This was my first Henry James book, but after reading this one, will not hesitate to read another. James takes pride in his craftsmanship and we the readers benefit. Do yourself a favor and take a step back in time and read this one.

Henry James is relevant today........2004-12-19

This book by James is a satiric view at the reformist tendency of Bostonians. Interestingly, Henry Adams, a friend of James, took the same approach in the former's prize winning autobiography. James' portrayal of Ms. Birdseye raised some eyebrows because of the character's similarity to a noted Boston scion of the age. William James had to write to his brother to tell him to tone his description down (the book was being serialized.

Historically the book provides a fascinating glipse of Beacon Hill and its environs as well as the attitudes of the day.

The book does satirize the feminist movement. James had an interest in defining the american 'girl'. This very witty novel fits in with that trend. James is very descriptive. This book is to be savored not rushed.

The Other Bostonians: Poverty and Progress in the American Metropolis, 1880-1970

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The Other Bostonians: Poverty and Progress in the American Metropolis, 1880-1970
Stephan Thernstrom
Manufacturer: iUniverse
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

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ASIN: 1583484434

Book Description

The Other Bostonians challenges many myths and assumptions about the development of America. Newspapers and other familiar sources record the lives of only the prominent five percent of the population. Beyond these privileged few lie the millions who are born, live, and die unnoted by the chroniclers of their era. Now, with the assistance of computers and a team of researchers, Stephan Thernstrom has gone to the available records of these people, to the raw and uninterpreted data in old city directories, fading marriage license applications, and abandoned local tax records. He has assembled and analyzed this neglected body of evidence to provide one of the most thorough series of observations ever made on the patterns of migration and social mobility in a changing American community.

"Thernstrom has written a superb book. It is the best and most ambitious analysis of social mobility yet to appear and will undoubtedly serves as a model for future studies." -American Historical Review

"The best piece of quantitative history yet published. It is destined to be a highly influential book." -New York Times Book Review

Book Description

This study of Boston's West Indian immigrants examines the identities, goals, and aspirations of two generations of black migrants from the British-held Caribbean who settled in Boston between 1900 and 1950. Describing their experience among Boston's American-born blacks and in the context of the city's immigrant history, the book charts new conceptual territory. The Other Black Bostonians explores the pre-migration background of the immigrants, work and housing, identity, culture and community, activism and social mobility. What emerges is a detailed picture of black immigrant life. Johnson's work makes a contribution to the study of the black diaspora as it charts the history of this first wave of Caribbean immigrants.

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Eminent Bostonians
Thomas H. O'Connor
Manufacturer: Harvard University Press
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover

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ASIN: 0674009428

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The history of Boston is inseparable from the life stories of its people--from the Puritans and Native Americans of the seventeenth century to the civic leaders and celebrities of today. In Eminent Bostonians, Thomas H. O'Connor, the preeminent historian of Boston, offers a personal selection of entertaining and enlightening brief lives of notable residents of the city.

Eminent Bostonians includes some 130 figures of local and national significance from the arts, literature, religion, politics, science and medicine, business, education, and sports. Some would be on every list of prominent Bostonians, and some will come as a genuine surprise. As at a large dinner party, part of the fun is seeing who is seated next to whom: the fictional Proper Bostonian George Apley, a creation of John P. Marquand, followed by Anthony Athanas, the Albanian immigrant owner of Anthony's Pier 4 restaurant, followed by Crispus Attucks, a victim of the Boston Massacre in 1770. Or Lucy Stone, a pioneering feminist, next to Gilbert Stuart, the eighteenth-century portraitist, next to John L. Sullivan, the early-twentieth-century champion boxer. Or the Red Sox legend Ted Williams between Phillis Wheatley, an eighteenth-century African-American poet, and the Puritan founder John Winthrop.

And so it goes, from Abigail Adams to Leonard P. Zakim: a gallery of Brahmins and immigrants, workers and scholars, reformers and reactionaries, dreamers and schemers. Eminent Bostonians introduces longtime residents and newcomers alike to their neighbors--those who made Boston what it was and what it is today.

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The Boston Dictionary

The Boston Dictionary

Manufacturer: Douglas Charles, Limited
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback
ASIN: 0924771852

Product Description

If you are having trouble understanding your friends who are from Boston, use this dictionary and you will never be left in the "dahk" again!

Customer Reviews:

The Boston Dictionary.......2004-11-26

This book is absolutley hilarious. If you plan to spend some time in "Bawstin", or if you already have, then you HAVE to read this book. It will help you pronounce words like Worcester (MA second largest city). Say it with me now, "Wis-tah". I know, it looks like War-kester, but if you "tok" like that you will be promptly sent to the "bordah". The books format is useful, too. It is (more-or-less) laid out like a dictionary, with entries from A-Z. It is also profusely illustrated with line drawings by Peter Wallace that will have you rolling in the isle. Getchuz a copy of dis wun!

Improper Bostonian: Emily Greene Balch, Nobel peace laureate, 1946

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Improper Bostonian: Emily Greene Balch, Nobel peace laureate, 1946
Mercedes M Randall
Manufacturer: Twayne Publishers
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Unknown Binding

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ASIN: B0006BMCKY

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