Through observations of modern-day Boston, a veteran nature writer recounts the city’s natural past, from volcanic eruptions to reclaimed parks
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.
“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
- Listen here to John Hanson Mitchell's December 28th interview Mark Lynch on WICN's Inquiry