New Book Releases

The peninsular community of Hull, Massachusetts, reaches a total of seven thin, sandy miles into Boston Harbor, forming a protective barrier against intruding navies and pounding waves. Unfortunately for those residents who choose to live here for the three miles of crescent-shaped beach and its attendant summer advantages, exposure to the sea during the winter months can be, at times, trying, to say the least. When Hull Freezes Over, by lifelong Hull resident and columnist John Galluzzo, is a collection of historic tales that look beyond the sunny days of summer and remember the other nine months of life along this scenic shore. From shipwrecks and drownings, to subzero temperatures and frigid arctic gales, locals have learned to enjoy their seasonal solitude, and especially enjoy the holiday season in ways only New England peninsula dwellers can.

Newburyport was once the most dangerous harbor on the East Coast and one of its most prosperous. Local captains and sailors led the nation to battle during the American Revolution and founded the U.S. Coast Guard. They sent vessels to Bombay, the gold rush and the farthest reaches of the world. Author Dyke Hendrickson explores the perfection of the clipper ship, the city's famous Federalist mansions and the bold adventures from the Age of Sail. Follow the men and women of Newburyport into battle, into gales and into fortune--or ruin.

When Barbara Barker arrived in Hanover in 1964, she fell in love with the community. That initial infatuation made her one of the South Shore's most well-known, widely read and beloved historians. In this collected work, the Hanover Historical Society shares the stories Barbara Barker loved to tell, of the early days when shipbuilders and oxen drivers were as prevalent as farmers and hoteliers. Step inside the old village markets and ride along the old back roads or on the tracks of the Hanover Branch Railroad to see what Hanover once was and what remains today.

Before the dawn of the Industrial Revolution and the nineteenth century's cultural renaissance, a serious rebellion was brewing in the taverns of Boston. Look back to a time when riots raged through the streets of Boston, when Beacon Hill was a neighborhood of beggars and vagabonds, and papal effigies burned on the Boston Common. Meet William Blackstone, the first Bostonian, and John Singleton Copley, portrait artist of the elite. In this compilation by historian William Marchione, discover Boston as it once was—when customs officials were dragged through the sewers and drinking tea was a highly political act. Even the city's largest and most controversial funeral, held for the infamous Sacco and Vanzetti, ended in a street brawl with police. And yet, with the sprawl of the first American railroads, the dawning of the abolitionist movement and the cultural flourishing in art and architecture, Boston emerged as the nation's first cultural, economic, and political hub.