The Paradise of All These Parts: A Natural History of Boston - Softcover

Mitchell, John

Softcover

ISBN 10: 0807071498 ISBN 13: 9780807071496

Publisher: Beacon Press, 2009

Synopsis

How much does the current landscape of Boston, Massachusetts, resemble the place that Captain John Smith referred to in 1614 as "the Paradise of all these parts"? John Hanson Mitchell explores a variety of habitats as he ranges outward from the core of the peninsula where the Puritans first settled to the ancient rim of the Boston Basin, within which the modern city now lies. Endlessly readable and full of personality, The Paradise of All These Parts offers Boston visitors and residents alike a whole new perspective on one of America's oldest cities.

About this title

About the Author:

John Hanson Mitchell concentrated much of his earlier early work, including, most famously, Ceremonial Time, on a square-mile tract of land known as Scratch Flat, located thirty-five miles northwest of Boston. He is the author of numerous books and editor of the award-winning magazine Sanctuary, published by the Massachusetts Audubon Society. Mitchell lives in Littleton, Massachusetts.

Review:

Hands-on and eloquent-a lover's rhapsody.—Edward Hoagland

"A wonderful piece of work: lively, thought-provoking, and totally absorbing. The city of Boston has been chopped to pieces, riddled with tunnels, and surrounded by fill, but as Mitchell reveals in The Paradise of All These Parts, it is still a place of wonder."—Nathaniel Philbrick, author of Mayflower and In the Heart of the Sea

"Like Thoreau, Mitchell has a genius for sauntering, and I can't imagine a better rambling companion."—David Gessner, author of Sick of Nature and Soaring with Fidel

"You don't have to know Boston to appreciate the stories Mitchell is relating, for despite his local slant, his approach has global implications."—Laurence Marschall, Natural History

"...This may well be the finest book about the town as a place, highly personal and at the same time keenly descriptive."—Michael Kenney, Boston Globe

"Like Vladimir Nabokov, John Hanson Mitchell is a writer with an eye for nature's curious details, rather than a naturalist who practices writing. His new natural history of Boston is actually more a history of naturalists, explorers, conservationists and others at play on nature's grand stage with lots of juicy subplots and a large cast of engaging eccentrics. Irresistible."—Christopher W. Leahy, chair of the Massachusetts Audubon Society and author of The Birdwatcher's Companion to North American Birdlife

About this edition

• Publisher: Beacon Press
• Publication date: 2009
• ISBN 10: 0807071498
• ISBN 13: 9780807071496
• Binding: Paperback
• Number of pages: 272