Rascal King: The Life and Times of James Michael Curley, 1874-1958

Jack Beatty. Addison Wesley Publishing Company, $15 (0pp) ISBN 978-0-201-62617-9

This delightful biography presents the notorious governor, congressman and four-term mayor of Boston as a devout Catholic, devoted husband and father of nine children, while describing how his constituents supported his politics of ethnic and religious polarization and winked at his graft. (Oct.)

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