South Boston, My Home Town: The History of an Ethnic Neighborhood

by Thomas H. O'Connor

Book Overview

Thomas O'Connor draws on oral testimony and extensive written sources to provide an engaging yet objective look at the 350-year old history of "Southie," a neighborhood that has survived largely... This description may be from another edition of this product.

• Format: Hardcover
• Language: English
• ISBN: 1557701016
• ISBN13: 9781557701015
• Release Date: January 1988
• Publisher: Quinlan Press (MA)
• Length: 259 Pages
• Weight: 1.23 lbs.

Customer Reviews

Southie

Excellent social history. Any Bostonian who loves his city will enjoy reading about the Irish and their story.

An Excellent History of South Boston

"South Boston My Hometown" is a detailed but very readable history of a unique Boston neighborhood. Written by a native who is a professor at Boston College, the book is remarkably objective considering the South Boston Irish background of the author. If there is any flaw, it is the apology given for the long standing ignorance and bigotry of many South Boston natives. The pitiful anti-semitism of the 1930's and the disgraceful racism of the 1970's deserve no forgiveness. Perhaps a later edition will tell if any effort has been made to educate the new generation of South Boston Irish to avoid the sins of the last century.

A complete, and very thorough history of Southie

I had to read this book...and comment on it. Like Thomas O'Connor, I am also a native of Southie. Using a voluminous store of references, and countless personal interviews, O'Connor has written the most comprehensive history of "The Town" I've ever read. He takes the reader from the very beginnings of life in the relatively isolated peninsula settlement, through the cultural, ethnic, occupational, and religious history of the residents, emphasizing their insular nature, seemingly always at odds with the rest of Boston and other outsiders, right through the 80's. The detailed background information provided by O'Connor over an entire chapter, regarding the forced busing for school integration and ensuing Southie riots, will give the non-Southie(and maybe some Southies also) reader a much better understanding, and different perspective, on the town. O'Connor is clear on the causes of the riots, namely a clueless judge following the path paved by a self-serving state legislature that passed a law which would preclude busing to Boston's lily-white suburbs, compounded of course by Southie's insular nature and desires to maintain their neighborhood schools. I recommend Michael MacDonald's recently published "All Souls" for a terrific read on the tragic experiences of one very poor Southie family in the projects during the those riots in the 70's, and on through the 80's, into the 90's.Overall..a terrific historic work on South Boston by O'Connor..the best Ive ever read.