Editorial

IN “September, 1918,” Amy Lowell describes a day all New Englanders will find familiar: an afternoon “the colour of water falling through sunlight,” trees glittering “with the tumbling of leaves,” houses “laughing out of square, open windows,” boys lying “[u]nder a tree in the park.” But in that year, as in others, the enjoyment of a pristine autumn afternoon was spoiled by the inescapably grim political climate. Lowell reflects:In this issue of the Quarterly, we are pleased to present, in partnership with the Colonial Society of Massachusetts, the winner of the Whitehill Prize in Early American History: “Accompanying the Sick Poor in the ‘New’ City of Boston” by Mary Fuhrer. We offer here as well three essays on the Revolutionary period in New England, all with key insights into resistance, community, and survival in a time of great sociopolitical upheaval, valuable knowledge to gather on an afternoon this September, as we endeavor to balance ourselves.Thank you for reading.