James, Henry. The Bostonians: A Novel.

New York: Macmillan and Co., 1886. Published initially in serial form in Century magazine in 1885, the novel is a satire of Boston, Bostonians, and the city’s fondness for social reform. It contains a number of quotations about Boston, including one in the in the final scene, which is set in the Boston Music Hall, in which the protagonist, Basil Ransome declares, “Even when exasperated, a Boston audience is not ungenerous.” But it also contains a declaration by a Mrs. Luna, who declares of Boston reformers. “‘[The motto of Bostonians is] Whatever is, is wrong.”” The author subsequently writes to his brother William that “[He] hadn’t a dream of generalizing,” and declares his intention to write another book, entitled The Other Bostonians, but never does. The book is made into a movie in 1984.*