Boston's Back Bay: The Story of America's Greatest Nineteenth-Century Landfill Project
“This study by two Northeastern professors details the geological, political, economic, and social factors in the filling of the Back Bay, the emerging technologies that made it possible, and the unanticipated complications that developed. And it reminds us, were a reminder needed, that the Big Dig is not Boston's first major construction project beset with unforeseen problems, apparent deceit, and deaths.”—Bostonia“This book will interest anyone curious about the project itself, the use of the technology involved or the social and political aspects of such a project.”—Colebrook Chronicle (NH)"[A]s a primer of the political machinations and technical expertise that made the landfill possible, this book is invaluable."—New England Quarterly"[Holton and Newman] present a fascinating account of the politicking, planning, and engineering involved in filling and developing the former tidal marsh that was Boston's Back Bay...Their original and broadly informing book should please all readers interested in history of technology and urbanization." —Technology and Culture