New Bedford Guide Your Guide to New Bedford and South Coast, MA
“The story of a young man’s decision to save the world by fixing up his hometown and where that journey eventually takes him.
Spinner Publications is excited to announce the upcoming release of HOMETOWN, a memoir by John K. Bullard on June 1, 2023.
HOMETOWN, a deeply moving and thoughtful memoir, by John K. Bullard weaves a tale of a family legacy intertwined with the pitfalls and promise of New Bedford, a storied Massachusetts seaport whose past and future can be found in every small American city struggling to survive and thrive.
Bullard’s story—and his sense of hometown—as he rises from a local to federal leader becomes more sophisticated but he never loses sight of the importance of extending a helping hand and giving back to the community.
Spinner Publications photo.
Author, John Bullard’s career has been devoted to bettering the health of the oceans and improving his hometown of New Bedford, Massachusetts and other mostly coastal communities in America. To those ends he led the revitalization of New Bedford’s waterfront historic district, and the saving of many other historic properties.
He served six years as mayor of New Bedford bringing the city into compliance with the Clean Water Act by building a secondary wastewater treatment plant at Fort Rodman and paving the way for offshore wind to be located at the former Standard-Times Field. This courageous decision cost him his job.
Bullard joined the Clinton Administration, establishing the first federal office of Sustainable Development in NOAA and later serving as Regional Administrator for NOAA Fisheries in the northeast.
Bullard co-founded the Southeastern Massachusetts Agricultural Partnership, the SouthCoast Learning Network, and the New Bedford Light, an online daily newspaper. He serves as Chair of the New Bedford Ocean Cluster and the Westport Community Resilience Committee and on the boards of the Buzzards Bay Coalition and the Westport Planning Board.
John and Laurie live in Westport and have three children and five grandchildren. Hometown is his first book.
Buzz for Hometown:
• This fascinating, fast-paced memoir is an absolute delight. If you care about New Bedford, the Atlantic fisheries, the seafaring traditions of New England, and the bare-knuckle world of politics, you need to get yourself a copy of Hometown. A truly great read. Highly recommended.” –Nathaniel Philbrick, author of In the Heart of the Sea, Mayflower, and Travels with George.
• Fittingly, John Bullard’s engaging life-story is something like a boat captain’s log of a remarkably successful voyage. Hometown takes us aboard as passengers and gives us the experience of a trying, adventuresome, productive learning experience through high seas and calm waters on the Ocean of Life. Everett Hoagland, inaugural Poet Laureate of New Bedford; author of
Ocean Voices, This City and Other Poems, and Homecoming.
• John Bullard was the best kind of public official—someone who led with his heart, made the hard decisions even when they weren’t in his political interests, and was always willing to speak frankly, even to reporters, even when it could get him in trouble. Hometown is an elegant testament to a life given to service and focused on doing good.”-David Abel, reporter, The Boston Globe.
• Wonderfully illuminating, entertaining, and refreshingly honest, John Bullard’s Hometown is an antidote to pessimism about the ability of politics to promote the public good, and a crash course in the art of the possible. Politicians, bureaucrats, local organizers, and concerned citizens who want to improve their corner of the world would all benefit from reading Hometown. –Eric Jay Dolin, author of Rebels at Sea: Privateering in the American Revolution.”
Want to attend the book launch and cocktail reception that takes place Thursday, June 1 from 5:30pm-7:30pm? The event is free but you have to reserve your ticket.
Spinner Publications photo.
