The Meadowlands - by Robert Sullivan (Paperback)

About the Book

This grunge north Jersey version of John McPhee's classic "The Pine Barrens" celebrates the "natural (and unnatural) beauties of a wasteland" ("San Francisco Chronicle").

Book Synopsis

Imagine a grungy north Jersey version of John McPhee's classic The Pine Barrens and you'll get some idea of the idiosyncratic, fact-filled, and highly original work that is Robert Sullivan's The Meadowlands. Just five miles west of New York City, this vilified, half-developed, half-untamed, much dumped-on, and sometimes odiferous tract of swampland is home to rare birds and missing bodies, tranquil marshes and a major sports arena, burning garbage dumps and corporate headquarters, the remains of the original Penn Station--and maybe, just, maybe, of the late Jimmy Hoffa. Robert Sullivan proves himself to be this fragile yet amazingly resilient region's perfect expolorer, historian, archaeologist, and comic bard.

Review Quotes

"Provocative, audacious . . . by looking observantly, without trite moralizing, at the natural world . . . this book suggest a challenging new model for how we ought to pay attention." --Robert Pinsky, The New York Times Book Review

"It's full of add, compelling stories and is often hilarious. In short, it's a delight." --Men's Journal

About the Author

Robert Sullivan has written for The New York Times Magazine, The New Republic, Rolling Stone, Outside, Condé Nast Traveler, and Vogue, where he is a contributing editor. He lives in Portland, Oregon, with his wife and two children.