Embattled River - by David Schuyler (Paperback)

About the Book

In Embattled River, David Schuyler describes the efforts to reverse the pollution and bleak future of the Hudson River that became evident in the 1950s. Through his investigative narrative, Schuyler uncovers the critical role of this iconic American waterway in the emergence of modern environmentalism in the United States.Writing fifty-five...

Book Synopsis

In Embattled River, David Schuyler describes the efforts to reverse the pollution and bleak future of the Hudson River that became evident in the 1950s. Through his investigative narrative, Schuyler uncovers the critical role of this iconic American waterway in the emergence of modern environmentalism in the United States.

Writing fifty-five years after Consolidated Edison announced plans to construct a pumped storage power plant at Storm King Mountain, Schuyler recounts how a loose coalition of activists took on corporate capitalism and defended the river. As Schuyler shows, the environmental victories on the Hudson had broad impact. In the state at the heart of the story, the immediate result was the creation in 1970 of the New York State Department of Environmental Conservation to monitor, investigate, and litigate cases of pollution. At the national level, the environmental ferment in the Hudson Valley that Schuyler so richly describes contributed directly to the creation of the Environmental Protection Agency in 1970, the passage of the Clean Water Act in 1972, and the creation of the Superfund in 1980 to fund the cleanup of toxic-dumping sites.

With these legal and regulatory means, the contest between environmental advocates and corporate power has continued well into the twenty-first century. Indeed, as Embattled River shows, the past is prologue. The struggle to control the uses and maintain the ecological health of the Hudson River persists and the stories of the pioneering advocates told by Schuyler provide lessons, reminders, and inspiration for today's activists.

Review Quotes

Embattled River fills a historiographical niche by bringing the Hudson Valley's regional history of environmentalist action up to the present. Overall, Schuyler's writing is both clear and accessible, and the relatively short chapter lengths make Embattled River a pleasure to read.

-- "Environmental History"

Anyone interested in the Hudson River Valley--even those who think themselves well-versed in these topics--will find something of value in this well-researched and nicely written book. Perhaps most valuable is Schuyler's reminder that rivers have the potential to bind together disparate places and diverse individuals in powerful environmental coalitions.

-- "The Hudson River Valley Review"

Exhaustively researched. A serious storyteller who plays by the stringent rules of the historian, Schuyler expertly weaves his many strands into a 360-degree view.

-- "Hudson Valley One"

In this carefully researched narrative, Schuyler explores the key events in the river's recent history as well as the principal agents and organizations that worked to save the river and that offered a model of activism and policy making that shaped the nation's response to its growing environmental challenges.

-- "The Journal of American History"

Places the Hudson at the center of the larger movement to preserve what is left of America the beautiful. Packed with details about the river's recent environmental history.

-- "Lancaster Online"

This is a timely and important book that illuminates environmental activism in an iconic American region. It also makes an important point about the genealogy of modern American environmentalism itself.

-- "American Historical Review"

About the Author

David Schuyler is Arthur and Katherine Shadek Professor of the Humanities and American Studies, Franklin & Marshall College. Schuyler is author of numerous books, including the award-winning Sanctified Landscape.