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Tom Menino Releases New Book, 'Mayor For A New America'

BOSTON (CBS) – Hitting stores October 14, former Boston Mayor Tom Menino's new book, "Mayor For A New America" begins and ends with the 2013 Boston Marathon bombings and the city's response to what happened on Boylston Street.

"It was a very meaningful day in the city's history, in how we deal with it and how we came out of it. Everyone worked through that issue better than anyone expected us to," Menino told WBZ NewsRadio 1030 of his decision to frame his memoir with this event.

The response to the bombings crystallized the community that Boston became over the twenty years that Menino was mayor. In the book, he talks a lot about his first years in office, touching on his original intent to bring "Hyde Park values to City Hall."

"Hyde Park values are a strong family, a strong life, and strong neighborhoods where everybody worked together to make it a better place to bring up our children. I grew up in a place where everyone knew each other and everyone supported each other," Menino explained.

Tom Menino
Boston Mayor Tom Menino. (Photo by Gail Oskin/Getty Images)

The book also highlights that Menino, at times, thought the biggest impediment to progress was municipal unions.

However, he simply described himself as "just a guy who cared."

"I never did anything special. I got along with people who were going to help the City of Boston. My commitment was to the people of Boston. I wasn't a political guy, I was a mayor of the people, " he said.

He was also a man who recognized the power of his position, and he was not shy about using that power.

Part 2 of Carl Stevens' report on Menino's book will air Tuesday, October 14.

WBZ NewsRadio 1030's Carl Stevens reports

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