Boston Then and Now

Rating:
Summary: SNOBS
Review: "Boston Then And Now" was reviewed by Charles Higgensworth III. I do hope there won't be a number 4 Higgensworth. This man should drop the attitude. Then people may like him almost as much as this book. What a jerk!

Rating:
Summary: great coffee table book
Review: Boston history lovers will enjoy this. Specific parts of Boston shown on one page in a historic photo and on the next in current day. Mostly buildings, intersections, and famous sites. Large pictures, nice descriptions that aren't too lengthy. Photo labels at the top corner of each new picture. A really nice book.

Rating:
Summary: Boston for the Time-Pressed and Vapid
Review: If Boston were a lengthy work of great scholarship, "Boston Then and Now" would be the Cliff Notes. And were you to rely upon them come examination time, you would be failed for having a trite and simplistic understanding of the weighty tome you had been asked to master. This is essentially a series of photos of Boston neighborhoods and vistas taken way back then ... followed by photos of the same neighborhoods and vistas taken now. Get it? Then ... and Now! Photo pairs are accompanied by fortune-cookie length observations that only a primate would find edifying. True Bostonians will find this book every bit as delightful as Game Six of the 1986 World Series.

Rating:
Summary: Boston for the Time-Pressed and Vapid
Review: If Boston were a lengthy work of great scholarship, "Boston Then and Now" would be the Cliff Notes. And were you to rely upon them come examination time, you would be failed for having a trite and simplistic understanding of the weighty tome you had been asked to master. This is essentially a series of photos of Boston neighborhoods and vistas taken way back then ... followed by photos of the same neighborhoods and vistas taken now. Get it? Then ... and Now! Photo pairs are accompanied by fortune-cookie length observations that only a primate would find edifying. True Bostonians will find this book every bit as delightful as Game Six of the 1986 World Series.

Rating:
Summary: SNOBS
Review: We purchased this book in Boston and found almost all of the sites we saw in town in this book. In this book, the older, up to 150-year old photo of the original structures on the current site, or older pictures than offered a juxtaposition of the surrounding landscape of buildings present in the past and now around selected sites.

While I was a little disappointed in no picture of Fenway Park, or in a map to help locate where some of these pictures were taken in the city (after all, I'm not a native of Boston), I found the book to very ably support the exhibits we saw on Boston's history, and add greatly to my understanding of the city and the growth of urbanism in general. The architecture depicted is often unique, and the descriptions offer a bit of information on who the architects were, how the areas shown were constructed, and more.

Overall, I came out pretty pleased by what is found in this book.

Rating:
Summary: A good backstop to any trip to Boston's sites
Review: We purchased this book in Boston and found almost all of the sites we saw in town in this book. In this book, the older, up to 150-year old photo of the original structures on the current site, or older pictures than offered a juxtaposition of the surrounding landscape of buildings present in the past and now around selected sites.

While I was a little disappointed in no picture of Fenway Park, or in a map to help locate where some of these pictures were taken in the city (after all, I'm not a native of Boston), I found the book to very ably support the exhibits we saw on Boston's history, and add greatly to my understanding of the city and the growth of urbanism in general. The architecture depicted is often unique, and the descriptions offer a bit of information on who the architects were, how the areas shown were constructed, and more.

Overall, I came out pretty pleased by what is found in this book.