This book by Vincent Feeney--the city's first comprehensive history--explains how Burlington became the Green Mountain State's most dynamic and largest city, home of its state university and a thriving commercial and retail center that draws national media attention. It tells the story of the birth of the small settlement nestled between river and lake, staked out by Ira Allen and some adventurous Green Mountain Boys; the economic visionaries that nurtured the town and steered its growth; the surprising influx of ethnic groups that powered the scruffy, brawling, cosmopolitan young city on the lake; and the political battles and shifts that heralded a changing culture.