June 7 Book Signing and Beer Tasting in Portsmouth, NH

John L. Sullivan appreciated a good pint—well, any pint for that matter—so I’m sure he’d be excited about a great afternoon of brews and books that will be hosted by the Beara Irish Brewing Company in Portsmouth, New Hampshire, on Sunday, June 7, from 2-4 PM.

Sullivan's role as the country's first sports superstar and Irish-American hero has faded a bit from our collective memory in recent years, so I was particularly excited when I saw his image gracing the labels of a great local brew, Beara Irish Brewing Company's O'Sullivan Stout. The brewery has opened a new taproom on Route 1 in Portsmouth, and if you come in on June 7 you can sample the stout and the brewery’s other craft offerings, which I highly recommend. I’ll also be there to sign copies of Strong Boy: The Life and Times of John L. Sullivan, called “one of the best boxing books ever penned” by the Boston Globe.

And if you have a dad who loves to drink beer and imbibe sports and history, it’s a great two-fer for picking up some unique gifts! Father’s Day shopping doesn’t get any easier than this.

The Beara Irish Brewing Company is located at 2800 Lafayette Road in Portsmouth, New Hampshire. Its web site is www.bearairishbrew.com. For more on Strong Boy, visit www.strongboybook.com. 

Book Review: A City So Grand

I'm a big fan of Stephen Puleo's book Dark Tide, a riveting account of Boston's great molasses flood of 1919. I was very happy to see that Dark Tide has been selected by Boston.com readers as the first title for its online book club. Dark Tide was voted ahead of other great books of local interest, some of which were written by big-name authors, so it's a testament to the quality of Puleo's writing and the engaging nature of his story-telling.

So, I was naturally interested in reading Puleo's new book, A City So Grand. The book chronicles the history of Boston in the second half of the nineteenth century and the incredible technological, social, and political innovations that were first pioneered in the city and later altered America. Puleo begins his tale with an account of the return of the runaway slave Thomas Sims from Boston to the South in 1851 and uses that event to detail the leading role that Bostonians, in particular Charles Sumner, played in the abolitionist movement. The book discusses the city's role in events that transformed America, such as the Civil War and the massive influx of Irish immigrants, as well as Boston's Great Fire of 1872 and the creation of the Back Bay. There are also large segments devoted to the creation of the first subway in America and Alexander Graham Bell's invention of the telephone in his little workshop in Boston.

What I found really interesting were Puleo's passages describing the pageantry of great city-wide celebrations such as the Great Railroad Jubilee of 1851 and the Great Peace Jubilee in 1869, which drew attendees from all around the world. I had never heard of these events before so it was really eye-opening.

Puleo could have written another 320 pages about Boston's history between 1850 and 1900 and not run out of stories. Personally, I would have enjoyed reading more about the pioneering role of Bostonians such as John L. Sullivan and George and Harry Wright in sports in the late 1800s. The sports-crazy city that we live in today was born during the time period covered by Puleo. I grant you, though, this is just a personal bias.

While the book is a great read, I couldn't help but feel a little melancholy about the Boston of today compared to the Boston of the 1800s. The list of achievements by Bostonians back then seem to surpass our contributions to American life today. Back then, Bostonians literally moved mountains to resculpt the city, filling in waterways and creating the Back Bay. Puleo writes that the Great Coliseum, 500 feet long and 300 feet wide, that held 50,000 people for the Great Peace Jubilee was built in just 90 days. 90 days!

Boston still plays a leading role in science, technology, and education. In the last 20 years, Boston has had some notable achievements such as the cleanup of Boston Harbor and the Big Dig, but even while the Big Dig was an engineering marvel it was a long, protracted project and not necessarily a source of pride. These days, we can't even stage an event such as the Parade of Tall Ships without constant bickering and political infighting. There's a huge hole festering in Downtown Crossing where the old Filene's building, a Boston institution, once stood. I fear that it's becoming a symbol of a can't-do spirit in the city. Could Boston build the Great Coliseum in just 90 days today? I doubt it.

Puleo touches on the contrast between yesterday and today in A City So Grand: "Long before the frustrations of our modern era, in which the notion of accomplishing great things often appears overwhelming or even impossible, Boston distinguished itself in the last half of the nineteenth century by proving it could tackle and overcome the most arduous of the challenges and obstacels with repeated--and often resounding--success, becoming a city of vision and destiny."

Puleo includes this quote from Ralph Waldo Emerson in the book: "Boston commands attention as the town which was appointed in the destiny of nations to lead the civilization of North America." My question is: Can we say the same today?

The Paradise of All These Parts

I just finished reading The Paradise of All These Parts, a new book by John Hanson Mitchell. It's a really interesting new book on the natural history of Boston, a topic that the author notes is one that has been sparsely covered. Geography is such a major factor in the unfolding of human history (think how many wars have been fought over land, access to seaports, etc.), and Boston is no different. 

Mitchell lays out his approach right in the preface when he talks about "querencia," a Spanish term for a sense of place, and he asks questions about why certain areas have emerged from the wilderness to become powerful cities or historic towns, including Boston. Mitchell points out that the city would not exist without its deep-water harbor and navigable rivers, its nearby wooded hills, and its abundance of fish and waterfowl. (It's a theme I touch upon in Discovering the Boston Harbor Islands as well. The city would never have become a maritime power without its islands that afforded protection from nature's fury and enemy attack.)

Mitchell then sets out to educate the reader on the city's actual nature of the place. His narrative is part travelogue, part history, part nature lesson. At times it gets repetitive with certain facts that pop up in multiple chapters, but it's a good read. The author uses visits to downtown Boston, East Boston, Route 128, Franklin Park, Blue Hill (I hadn't known this was the highest point within 10 miles of the coast along the Atlantic seaboard), the Fenway Victory Gardens (the only extant victory garden in the U.S.), and Boston Harbor, among other places, to help advance the narrative. Mitchell tells the story of how Native Americans and Puritans approached nature in very different ways, with the Puritans viewing the wilderness they discovered in America as a foreboding place to be feared and conquered, and how those attitudes carry on to this very day. I only wish I had more knowledge of flowers and birds, so that when Mitchell names particular species, I could better visualize. 

The book is not a tome solely focused on flora and fauna; there is discussion of the city's climate, urban planning, and history, which Mitchell talks about to make the case that the geography of the city influenced many historical events (even the witch hysteria in 1692) and to show how man has dramatically altered the natural surroundings of Boston. For example, Mitchell describes the menus of Locke-Ober and the old Taft 's Hotel in Winthrop, which were filled with many shorebirds in the early 1900s, reflecting their prevalence around the city back then. 

If you want to read a different take on the evolution of Boston, check out The Paradise of All These Parts. 

101 Baseball Places to See Before You Strike Out

Ever since 1,000 Places to See Before You Die became such a smash hit, there have been an avalanche of books with a similar concept in many genres. I must admit I love these kind of books, so I was really eager to read 101 Baseball Places to See Before You Strike Out (clever title) by Josh Pahigian. Part of the appeal of these books is a) to see how many of these places you've been to; b) see which places the author deems to be worthy of inclusion and which you would have had on the list; c) and learn about some hidden gems that you should include on your personal list of must-see attractions. 

I was surprised to find that I've only hit 17 of the 101 places listed in the book, and that's only because last month I added Monument Park, the Yankee Tavern, and Babe Ruth's Grave to the list. I certainly have my work cut out for me. 

As for the places on the list, they are very eclectic, from the obvious (the Green Monster, Hall of Fame) to the obscure (Recreation Park in Visalia, California) to the commercial (Lenny Dykstra's Car Wash) to the bizarre (the infamous Alcor Life Extension Foundation).  I couldn't think of too many places I would have added. Probably would have had a couple more major league ballparks (there are far more minor league parks on the list) such as Dodger Stadium (the L.A. Memorial Coliseum where the Dodgers originally played is on the list) and PNC Park in Pittsburgh for the great ballpark, but the point wasn't to load it up to read like a major league road trip. I also would have included some sights in Japan (Koshien Stadium for one) and elsewhere around the world (San Pedro de Macoris in the Dominican Republic that has turned out an inordinate number of major leaguers and is known as the the "City of Shortstops"). 

Among the hidden gems in the book are the Crosley Field replica in Blue Ash, Ohio, the remains of Cleveland's League Park, and the site along the Delaware River where the mud  that is used to rub up the baseballs in the major league comes from, a gem so hidden that no one really knows where it is. 

Here are the places on the list with a Red Sox connection: The Green Monster, The Huntington Avenue Grounds on the campus of Northeaster (which has a statue of Cy Young), The Babe Ruth Birthplace and Museum in Baltimore, Babe Ruth's grave in Westchester County in New York, McCoy Stadium (home of the Pawtucket Red Sox), the Baseball Reliquary in Los Angeles (which displays quirky artifacts such as the thong of Margo Adams), the Ted Williams Museum and Hitters Hall of Fame in Tropicana Field, Alcor, Mike Greenwell's Bat-a-Ball and Family Fun Park in Cape Coral, Florida, and Bucky Dent's Baseball School in Florida (which has a replica of the Green Monster). The Cape Cod League is on the list as is The Irvin Allen Jr. Braves Museum in Atlanta, which has artifacts from the Braves' former days in Boston.

If you're a baseball fan, this is a book you really want to check out. 

Fanatic: 10 Things All Sports Fans Should Do Before They Die

If you're a die-hard sports fan, at some point you've had to have watched the Super Bowl, Masters, Final Four, Wimbledon, or any other of the world's greatest sporting events on television and dreamt of seeing them in person to experience the spectacle, hear the roar of the crowd, and see the world's best athletes compete on the grandest stages in sports. Well, Jim Gorant, a senior editor and writer at Sports Illustrated, did just that over the course of one year, and he writes about his experiences in a new book, Fanatic: 10 Things All Sports Fans Should Do Before They Die. If you're looking for a good summer read, check it out.

In addition to the four events I mentioned at the top, Gorant's list of must-do sporting experiences includes the Daytona 500, Kentucky Derby, games at Wrigley Field and Lambeau Field, Ohio State-Michigan football, and Opening Day at Fenway Park (saving the best for last!). The Super Bowl is the first event on the list and comes across as a bit of a sterile experience as most of the focus is on the parties leading up to the game and the crowd is pretty corporate. Not that surprising since that's always been the rap on the Super Bowl. The crowd is anything but corporate at the second event, the Daytona 500, and the passion of the fans begins to come out in the book in that chapter in beyond.

I enjoyed the vivid picture that Gorant paints of his Wimbledon experience, wandering the grounds and sitting on the outside courts, along with his commentary on the British attitudes toward attending the event, in particular the long queues for day passes. He writes: "There's something you have to love about socialism. Unlike the scalpers...outside Augusta National, where it was every man for himself and the only criteria for success were money and bargaining skill, the Brits have instituted a scalping welfare system. If you're willing to wait in line and you've got your sixteen pounds, you've got as good a shot as anyone else. With all these people queued up, any self-respecting American would be tempted to take his day pass to the last guy in line and resell it for twenty-five pounds, but that doesn't seem to be happening here."

In particular, I liked reading about the final four events: Ohio State-Michigan and the games at Wrigley, Lambeau, and Fenway. The passion of the fans really comes out in those chapters since each of those events were tied to particular sports teams. In some ways, it seemed like these regular season games were more enjoyable than the championship games at the Super Bowl and Final Four.

The last chapter covers Opening Day at Fenway in 2006. (Let it be noted that each year I've gone to Opening Day (2004), the Red Sox have won the World Series. Now that I've written that, it doesn't bode well for the rest of this year, so if it holds true again, let that serve as an enticement to offer up some tix next year.) Gorant, although we should forgive him for copping to be a Yankees fan, covers all the bases of the Fenway experience right from the opening of the chapter as he shoves on the Green Line that comes rattling into Copley Station to his description of the rows of fans in the Monster seats ("looking like volunteers at a telethon.")

It would take a lot to make me deal with the airlines this summer, but Fanatic definitely has me pining to hit the road to soak in the sun in the Wrigley bleachers, bundle up in Green Bay, or sip a mint julep in Louisville. For now, I'll have to be content with my tickets to Fenway next week.

Dark Tide

One of the quirkier events in Boston history was undoubtedly the great molasses flood of 1919. The circumstances of the flood are so strange, in fact, that some people think this is an urban legend. For the people involved, however, the story was only too horrifyingly real.

In 1915, the Purity Distilling Company, a subsidiary of United States Industrial Alcohol Company, constructed a steel tank 50 feet high and 240 feet around capable of storing 2.3 million gallons of molasses. Shortly after noon on January 15, 1919, the gigantic tank that towered over the city's North End neighborhood exploded, sending a tsunami of the thick, sticky liquid into the city streets. Fifteen-foot waves of molasses plowed through the waterfront area at 35 miles per hour causing immense devastation. The final toll was 21 killed and more than 150 injured. The harbor remained brown from molasses through the summer. The tank's owner was eventually found liable for the faulty design of the tank, and one of the legacies from the disaster was stricter building codes, which we all now take as commonplace. The location of the tank at 529 Commercial Street is now the site of a baseball field. A small plaque marks the site.

Stephen Puleo has written a fantastic book on the Great Boston Molasses Flood called Dark Tide. The book is a riveting read and filled with exquisite detail. Stephen also weaves the story about the flood into broader historical themes of the time such as the role of big business in the early 1900s, the rise of the anarchist movement, the onset of Prohibition, and the lack of power of immigrant communities in the U.S. I heard Stephen speak a few weeks ago about the flood at the Adams National Historical Site. Even though I had read the book already, the talk was still extremely interesting. Stephen says his goal is to present history without the dust, and he has succeeded in that. If you're looking for a good book on Boston history this summer, check it out.

Globe Corner Bookstores and Two Others

One of my favorite things about booking a new vacation is that I get to go out and buy a new travel guidebook. For me, that means a trip to The Globe Corner Bookstores in Cambridge. I'm like a kid in the candy store with all of the books, maps, and globes. I bought my Geochron at The Globe Corner Bookstores, and the staff is excellent. I was lost for a time after they closed their former location in Harvard Square. Luckily, they reopened about a year ago in a new, albeit somewhat smaller space, at 90 Mount Auburn Street. The bookstore also hosts an Adventure Travel Lecture Series with talks by travel authors. If you're not in the Boston area, you can still browse and buy through their web site.

Borders and Barnes & Noble are great for their selection, but I prefer going to local businesses than big-box stores. And another thing that these superstores lack is the thrill of the chase (and books for $3 or less) that you get at used book stores. There are a couple of good ones in Boston that I visited last week.

The Brattle Book Shop at 9 West Street near Downtown Crossing has a huge selection of used books. It's easy to spend hours just browsing the shelves. There are carts filled with books in the lot next to the shop and a couple of floors with books from the floor to the ceiling inside. There are plenty of books outside that sell for $5, $3, or $1. I stumbled across a copy of Richard Scarry's Busy, Busy World, which I loved as a kid, for $5. It's not in great condition, but the book is selling on Amazon for $60 or more. Brattle Book Shop also buys and sells rare books.

Commonwealth Books has a number of locations in the Boston area. I browsed the shelves of the location in the basement of the Old South Meeting House on the corner of Milk Street and Washington Street in Downtown Crossing. There are some discount books on the shelves on the sidewalks of Milk Street and the store is down the steps. It's not as big as Brattle Book Shop but still an interesting place to look for a lost gem of a book.