This is a very interesting book. Back in the 1970s I used to spend time on the harbor islands but haven't lately. I learned way more than I ever knew about the islands from this book, and got a better idea of the changes that have occurred since then. Very engagingly written and very readable. Now I'm inspired to get out to the islands again this summer.

We purchased "East of Boston" after reading about the islands in "Yankee Magazine" and inspired to make a visit. I had read a good portion of the book before our day outing. It was informative for our trip and would be for anyone else wanting to visit. "East of Boston" was also very entertaining. I would have completed the book whether or not visiting the harbor Islands just because it was fun to read.
I am looking forward to reading some other books written by Schorow.

E-mail to author after attending a book signing at the Daily Catch Restaurant for the Friends of the Boston Harbor Islands.
My youngest son called me after he finished his late Kung Fu Class and we met for a late supper. I'd brought along your book since I knew he would like it. He did. He loved it in fact.
I could hardly get him to stop reading it while we ate. He particularly liked the story about the pet seal knocking three times on the door with his flipper so he could sleep inside his human friend's island home. He was even more interested in your book than the "All Star Home Run Derby" being broadcast live on The Uno Chicago Grill's many television screens. He only stopped to watch the rookie first tie, and then break the record. Then he was back to examining your book.
He said he saw two coyotes when he and Ed and two of their ranger friends were camping on Bumpkin Island. The rangers were already sound to sleep, but Eric and his friend were startled by how close the two coyotes passed by them and their camp fire. They figured the canines had gotten to the island via the spit at low tide?
My son enjoyed visiting the islands for several years and even applied for a park ranger job. On another visit with his friend Bill this time, the rangers ordered a pizza by cell phone or radio, he couldn't remember which it was, and the four of them walked over the spit at low tide to pick it up and then carried it back over the low-water land bridge to Bumpkin Island to eat.
I told my youngest that I'd give him my copy of the book as soon as I've finished reading it. If my son is any judge, your book is going to receive a warm reception. The book is chuck full of interesting stories, legends, myths, historic photos and seems like a lost world--in the middle of Boston Harbor.

The first impression that this book provoked in me was to create an over-whelming desire to take one or more of the many Boston Harbor Island boat tours that are available throughout the day. Since that's the main purpose of guidebooks, this one scored a bulls-eye on that score. Schorow is such a good writer that when she writes about local history it comes alive for her readers. My son's initial reaction was the same as mine, but while he had a favorable bias toward the harbor islands, I'd never visited any of them other than Castle Island. I was surprised at how much this book made me want to visit the islands this very weekend.
Flying Santas, pirate treasure, former forts, hospitals, hotels and brothels, "cross-dressing ghosts", are among the topics discussed. The "Lady in Black" ghost of a woman who was supposedly hanged as a spy after attempting to help her husband escape from the Fort Warren Civil War prison, has been haunting the island for over a hundred years. She rowed to Georges Island dressed in men's clothing, but after she accidentally killed her husband while trying to shoot the fort's commander, she requested to be executed wearing her normal women's clothes, hence the cross-dressing ghost reference. That same Civil War Prison held six hundred Confederate prisoners of war including Alexander Stephens, Vice-President of the Confederate States of America. Several of the islands, including Hangmans Island, were the execution spots for pirates so that their rotting corpses twisting in the wind could be seen by any pirates sailing into port with thoughts of possibly misbehaving while visiting Boston.
Naturally the natural wonders and wildlife of the harbor islands are also discussed including the elusive silver fox of Grape Island. That field guide material is enough to make reading the book worthwhile.
Intertwined with accounts of her own camping trips to the various islands and the interesting people such as "the Birdinator" she met and the fascinating things she observed first-hand are wonderful bits of history such as: "Soldiers of the Twelfth Massachusetts Regiment station at Fort Warren, singing as they worked, created the famous song `John Brown's Body' to poke fun at a fellow soldier named John Brown, who shared his name with the abolitionist who led a failed armed insurrection in 1859 at Harpers Ferry. The song's catchy tune, based on the hymn `Say, Brothers Will You Meet Us?' in turn inspired Julia Ward Howe to write `The Battle Hymn of the Republic.'"
With their long colorful history, the Boston Harbor Islands are now a wonderful National Park. There is nothing else quite like this geologist's paradise of a "'swarm' of drumlin islands that intersects a coastline." The islands have something for everyone to enjoy and provide a truly unique experience in the very heart of a major city.

East of Boston - Notes from the Harbor Islands

The author has done a great service, allowing the reader to see that many of the Boston harbor islands are near, and very accessible.

Not very often! does a story come along which you wish would never end. I found it at the Harvard Book Store and less than 48 hours later finished reading it. It is great to read a book where the author is directly involved and expresses her (or his) passion for the subject. I envy her chances to visit the islands with a sleeping bag and a tent, and hope that I will have the nerve to do the same someday. The reader has presumably known that the harbor islands were now open for exploration, but how many of us will ever go there?

The illustrations and photos - some in color - are well placed, put where they enable the reader to better visualize the idea. At 160 pages, it is a good look at big subject.

The in-depth research is admirable; it is nicely written; it has a sense of humor. It is a nice blend of history and current affairs, nature and man-made things, politics and poetry.

Schorow helps us know Edward Rowe Snow, and Mr. Sweetser, who wrote an early guide to the island, King's Handbook of Boston Harbor.

I am curious who is on the pretty cover, the one with the hood rowing the boat and looking off into the distance?

Richard Pennington
Belmont, Massachusetts