Forgotten Tales of Massachusetts - Softcover

W hen the first Pilgrims arrived on the shores of Massachusetts, they set foot in a world full of promise and new beginnings. Colonists witnessed the births of new children, governments and traditions, but even the Puritans could not wholly escape the Old World's basest human instincts. In Plymouth, John Billington committed the nation's first murder, and in Boston, the "Mass Bay Madam" Alice Thomas opened the first brothel. A Charlestown midwife and healer was hanged for witchcraft. Yet Massachusetts also produced William Phips, America's first undersea treasure hunter; Peter Salem, the first black war hero; Ann Bradstreet, pioneer poetess; and William Ives, printer of the first board game. In these dramatic and vividly imaginative tales, Peter Stevens narrates fascinating episodes from Massachusetts history, piecing together forgotten yet
essential aspects of American identity.

Peter Stevens, author of Hidden History of the Boston Irish, is an author, editor, and award-winning full-time freelance writer and journalist He is a contributing editor and writes the feature column It Happened in Dorchester for the Dorchester Reporter and has contributed numerous articles to newspapers throughout New England. He is currently the News & Features Editor of the Boston Irish Reporter, contributing editor of the Dorchester Reporter, and regular contributor to Golf Magazine, Yankee Magazine, The New York Times Syndicate, American Heritage, American History, VFW, Early American Homes, True West, Old West, Grit, Hudson Valley, Cape Cod Life, Maryland, Virginia Cavalcade, Military History, Great Battles, America's Civil War, British Heritage, and The World of Hibernia.