The home of America's first university, its first public school, and its first public library, the Boston area now hosts more than two hundred thousand students. From 1630, when John Winthrop said Boston should be “a city on a hill,” through the McGuffey readers of the nineteenth century, the city has been a beacon of learning. Its politics have been long and colorful: Massachusetts boasts the oldest continuously used, written Constitution in the world, John Adams's 1780 state constitution; the gerrymander was named after Governor Elbridge Gerry's plan for redrawing North Shore districts; the early years of this century saw fierce Yankee-Irish battles for the State House. Massachusetts produced and remains transfixed by the Kennedys, was the only state to vote for George McGovern, and has another interesting gubernatorial race this year. (Keep an eye peeled for people standing with election signs at busy intersections, a local political tradition.) In short, Boston holds much allure for the political scientist.

For the tourist, too, Boston is an appealing destination. It is a compact city and, in the words of the old travel cliché, a city best appreciated on foot (or by public transportation). Most sites of interest in the historic downtown and nearby nineteenth-century neighborhoods are within walking distance of each other. There are restaurants, shops, book-stores, and a certain European vitality of city life—perhaps the result of narrow streets and ample green space. For walkers, the Freedom Trail organizes most of the major Revolution-era sites, and plenty of other spots are marked in the historic core. The same history, though, means Boston's streets were laid out on seventeenth-century cowpaths.