New Bedford Confidential

From Robert Whitcomb’s “Digital Diary,’’ in GoLocal24.com

Down at the Docks (Pantheon), by Rory Nugent, is an unvarnished look at, by turns, gritty and beautiful New Bedford and particularly the hard and often disorderly lives of fishermen there. Drug smuggling and other crime, organized and otherwise, the history of the industry that made the city famous – whaling – the city’s resilient romantic aspects amidst its decay as its textile industry imploded – it’s all in the book.

As Nugent notes, New Bedford is no longer exactly what Herman Melville, author of Moby Dick, called “the dearest place to live in, in all New England,’’ but it ain’t boring. Read the book and then go check out the Whaling Museum, the port and some great 19th Century mansions.