That 10 miles picture made the rounds when the show came out because that is decidedly NOT Massachusetts, no offense to the small mountains that we do have.
It is such a good book to think about history and what history means, and a fun story to boot. But totally understand that it’d be hard to incorporate into a curriculum - world history or otherwise. Western Mass hasn’t really been a heavy hitter on the American history front (other than Shay’s Rebellion and the invention of basketball/volleyball) so I get it. I wish it was more relevant of a topic because it seems like a much more fun way to consider how history is interpreted and preserved!
You have me pegged!! I LOVED this book (I tend to be obsessed with place-based books), but haven't written about it because, as you note, I'm not really sure how to squeeze it into my World History curriculum. Also, I've only ever been to Boston (10 years ago), so I feel like commenting on the authenticity of the place is best left to folks actually who live there, as you do QUITE well with your catamount count (although that "10 miles west of Boston" picture looks pretty familiar to me, bwhahahaha).
This was a beautiful write-up and makes me want to read the book again and also travel from the cultured hill folk area all the way to the witches and quaint-ass towns area :)
Loved your post! And agree that the book should be considered speculative fiction. But that is not what I am writing about. I am an historian and was first drawn to Mason by one of his other books, The Winter Soldier, a purely historical fiction piece that very accurately captures a place and period of which I am a specialist (how's that for a wonderfully convoluted sentence!) Then I came to North Woods on recommendation of my sister. Having loved Winter Soldier I immediately accepted her rec. And I loved it, although she and I rarely agree on much!
All that said, I have a pedantic contribution to make that may parallel your obsessing on catamounts and bobcats! In the paperback edition that I have, each chapter is followed by a plate. The chapter on the elm bark beetle that caused the Dutch Elm disease has a wonderful plate showing the very artistic pathways chewed out by the beetle under the bark. The illustration is taken from a German botanical book and has a German label. Being fluent I noticed that the label reads markings "of the spruce bark beetle." The two beetles in question - elm and spruce - do indeed make "beautiful" patterns, but they are two distinct species! As I said, a pedantic "complaint!"
I found this Substack from the LitArts newsletter and was lured in as a fellow Western MA native- also from the Blight & Basketball area (Holyoke) but culturally straddling the hippie student area. Happy to have another source for reading about books! Always exciting when Western MA is the setting —my favorite book in which it was being We All Want Impossible Things by Amherst author Catherine Newman; however, it didn't have a lot of description of place. BRB, gotta go start a list of WMass-set books.
That 10 miles picture made the rounds when the show came out because that is decidedly NOT Massachusetts, no offense to the small mountains that we do have.
It is such a good book to think about history and what history means, and a fun story to boot. But totally understand that it’d be hard to incorporate into a curriculum - world history or otherwise. Western Mass hasn’t really been a heavy hitter on the American history front (other than Shay’s Rebellion and the invention of basketball/volleyball) so I get it. I wish it was more relevant of a topic because it seems like a much more fun way to consider how history is interpreted and preserved!
You have me pegged!! I LOVED this book (I tend to be obsessed with place-based books), but haven't written about it because, as you note, I'm not really sure how to squeeze it into my World History curriculum. Also, I've only ever been to Boston (10 years ago), so I feel like commenting on the authenticity of the place is best left to folks actually who live there, as you do QUITE well with your catamount count (although that "10 miles west of Boston" picture looks pretty familiar to me, bwhahahaha).
This was a beautiful write-up and makes me want to read the book again and also travel from the cultured hill folk area all the way to the witches and quaint-ass towns area :)
Loved your post! And agree that the book should be considered speculative fiction. But that is not what I am writing about. I am an historian and was first drawn to Mason by one of his other books, The Winter Soldier, a purely historical fiction piece that very accurately captures a place and period of which I am a specialist (how's that for a wonderfully convoluted sentence!) Then I came to North Woods on recommendation of my sister. Having loved Winter Soldier I immediately accepted her rec. And I loved it, although she and I rarely agree on much!
All that said, I have a pedantic contribution to make that may parallel your obsessing on catamounts and bobcats! In the paperback edition that I have, each chapter is followed by a plate. The chapter on the elm bark beetle that caused the Dutch Elm disease has a wonderful plate showing the very artistic pathways chewed out by the beetle under the bark. The illustration is taken from a German botanical book and has a German label. Being fluent I noticed that the label reads markings "of the spruce bark beetle." The two beetles in question - elm and spruce - do indeed make "beautiful" patterns, but they are two distinct species! As I said, a pedantic "complaint!"
I found this Substack from the LitArts newsletter and was lured in as a fellow Western MA native- also from the Blight & Basketball area (Holyoke) but culturally straddling the hippie student area. Happy to have another source for reading about books! Always exciting when Western MA is the setting —my favorite book in which it was being We All Want Impossible Things by Amherst author Catherine Newman; however, it didn't have a lot of description of place. BRB, gotta go start a list of WMass-set books.