Good Reads on Concord, NH: Books About Concord
There is nothing like a good book! And, we are so lucky to have a great local bookstore right here in Concord on Main Street: Gibson’s.
So if you are looking for a good local read, here are a few ideas- and please tell us your favorites.
What’s the point in solving murders if we’re all going to die soon, anyway? Detective Hank Palace has faced this question ever since asteroid 2011GV1 hovered into view. There’s no chance left. No hope. Just six precious months until impact. The Last Policeman presents a fascinating portrait of a pre-apocalyptic United States. The economy spirals downward while crops rot in the fields. Churches and synagogues are packed. People all over the world are walking off the job—but not Hank Palace. He’s investigating a death by hanging in a city that sees a dozen suicides every week—except this one feels suspicious, and Palace is the only cop who cares.
The land now called Concord was originally inhabited by the Abenaki people and the Penacook tribe. Concord's first settlers, such as Ebenezer Eastman, began laying out the Plantation of Penacook, as it was known in 1725, along the fertile fields of the Merrimack River. It was incorporated in 1734 as Rumford and then renamed to Concord by Gov. Benning Wentworth in 1765. Concord experienced a surge in transportation and manufacturing in the 19th century, producing the Concord Coaches, Prescott Pianos, and steam boilers. As Concord celebrates its 250th anniversary, the city flourishes as the state capital and has a thriving community of restaurants, entertainment, and culture for all to enjoy. It retains its town sensibility as it plans for the continued growth of the local economy. Today's civic leaders, like Byron Champlin and James Carroll, work conjointly with business leaders, such as Tom Arnold of Arnie's and Juliana Eades of the New Hampshire Community Loan Fund, to build and enhance Concord's cultural, social, and economic identity.
Abbot-Downing and the Concord Coach
A short history of The Abbot-Downing Company of Concord, New Hampshire. It tells of the Concord Coach, Wagon, and Motor-Truck Manufacture from 1813-1928. There's a nice vintage photograph section. The cover shows Concord Coaches being shipped by Locomotive.
A Journal for Christa: Christa McAuliffe, Teacher in Space
The story of Christa McAuliffe, the energetic young schoolteacher chosen to be the first civilian to go into space-and who died with her astronaut companions in the Challenger explosion of January 28, 1986. In this memoir, McAuliffe's mother, Grace George Corrigan, makes it clear just who and what the nation lost in the Challenger tragedy. The product of family history, notes and letters, and the commemorative efforts to honor her daughter, A Journal for Christa provides a very personal biography of a remarkable young woman. Christa McAuliffe's story is solidly American-the eldest child of a close Catholic Massachusetts family, and a dedicated Girl Scout, she came of age in the turbulent sixties and early seventies and became a schoolteacher and mother.
Franklin Pierce: New Hampshire's Favorite Son
The recent biography of Franklin Pierce, New Hampshire native and 14th president of the United States. Volume covers Pierce to the night of his inauguration. From the hills of New Hampshire, to the halls of congress, to the battlefields of the Mexican War, and, ultimately, to the White House, this account of the rise of Franklin Pierce tells the triumphant and tragic story of our most obscure president.
There is nothing like a good book! And, we are so lucky to have a great local bookstore right here in Concord on Main Street. So if you are looking for a good local read, here are a few ideas- and please tell your favorites.
