Beirne, Francis F. The Amiable Balimoreans. New York: Dutton and Company, 1951.
Annotations / Notes: For many years the standard popular volume on Baltimore social history, though not intended to be comprehensive, Beirne's book provides a series of sketches of important events, personalities, and cultural traits that distinguish the city. Representative chapters tell the stories of the origins and importance of the port and the B&O Railroad; the nineteenth-century merchants who set the tone for economic and social life; the role of Germans, Jews, and African Americans in the city's social mix; and literary and cultural achievements. Its generally affirmative tone, conveyed by the title, is echoed in the book's concluding observation that "there will always be a Baltimore full of amiable people, going its leisurely and contented way."