In the last third of the 19th century Boston grew from a crowded merchant town, in which nearly everybody walked to work, to a modern divided metropolis. The street railway created this division of the metropolis into an inner city of commerce and slums and an outer city of commuter suburbs. This book tells who built the new city, and why, and how.

This full-life biography includes analysis of Adams's education, political philosophy, religious attitudes, social values, and family relationships. While his extraordinary role in achieving American independence is closely analyzed, the post-independence period, including his tenure as governor of Massachusetts, is not neglected. The core theme is that Adams was unflinchingly committed to promoting and defending republican constitutions and ideals. He wanted the revolutionary generation to bequeath a land of liberty and equality to the nation's posterity.