In this lively and informed book, Bernard Taper, a writer for the New Yorker, scrutinizes the social and economic characteristics of the arts in Boston, seeking specific answers to the questions: What might be done to foster, strengthen, enrich, and invigorate the arts? What can make them more meaningful to a larger segment of the community?

The arts, he writes, have been more honored in Boston than in most American cities, and by the best people; but they have possibly been enjoyed rather less than they have been honored. Throughout his book Mr. Taper stresses that the arts, both...