Embattled River

The Hudson and Modern American Environmentalism

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Pub Date 15 May 2018 | Archive Date 15 May 2018

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Description

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. Led by Scenic Hudson, later joined by groups such as Riverkeeper, Clearwater, the Hudson River Valley Greenway, and the Hudson River Valley National Heritage Area, the coalition won the first of many legal and publicity battles that would halt pollution of the river, slowly reverse the damage of years of discharge into the river, and protect hundreds of thousands of acres of undeveloped land in the river valley.

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.

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...


Advance Praise

"For more than fifty years, the Hudson River has been a key front in the fight to protect and restore our environment, and David Schuyler brings to life the river’s many defenders, from folksinger Pete Seeger to the blue-collar members of the Fishermen’s Association. More than ever, we need the kind of long-haul activism that Embattled River portrays so well." - Adam Rome, author of The Genius of Earth Day: How a 1970 Teach-In Unexpectedly Made the First Green Generation

"David Schuyler has written a fluent, comprehensive account of the people’s unremitting fifty-year defense of a spectacular natural and cultural treasure. It has been the nonprofit and volunteer citizen organizations that are the heroes in this inspiring story, told here with a scholar’s thoroughness nicely accented with a citizen’s quiet outrage. While the battle to protect the Hudson may never be conclusively won, Embattled River provides the reader with a source of hope and an abiding gratitude to the defenders." - J. Winthrop Aldrich, former New York State Deputy Commissioner for Historic Preservation


"Embattled River captures the moment in time when the modern environmental movement found its voice on America's first river—the mighty Hudson. David Schuyler skillfully links the green movement's early achievements and its present-day strategies, reminding us that science and civic action are still our best hopes for a sustainable future." - Paul Gallay, Hudson Riverkeeper


"With meticulous research and a clear narrative style, David Schuyler has brought to life the decades-long battle between the industries, farms, and municipalities that used the Hudson as an open sewer and the groups of determined citizens who fought to restore the river’s diverse ecology. Embattled River is environmental history at its best."

- Tom Lewis, author of The Hudson: A History

"For more than fifty years, the Hudson River has been a key front in the fight to protect and restore our environment, and David Schuyler brings to life the river’s many defenders, from...


Available Editions

EDITION Other Format
ISBN 9781501718052
PRICE $29.95 (USD)
PAGES 280

Average rating from 3 members


Featured Reviews

I'm impressed by the depth of this look at the Hudson and modern environmentalism. Beginning during the 1960s, this NE -US river was pointed out to be full of industrial filth and untreated human waste, from all that was poured into it by communities on its banks. Media of the day from New York Times to Sports Illustrated came together to resist new power plants, including pumped storage and nuclear power, and call for those plants sucking in fish eggs and fry with cooling water to be altered. We see that the first Earth Day (and the founding of Greenpeace) in 1970 were wildly popular among those who loved the scenic Hudson, wanted it cleaned and providing a good natural environment, and did not want its valley drowned below yet another power-producing reservoir.

I enjoyed the photos, some showing power plants, others designs of plants, while people and water sports also feature. Particularly nice was 'daylighting' the culverted Saw Mill River at downtown Yonkers. Suddenly downtown had a linear park with a river walk.

Scenic Hudson is a group which has bought up much riverfront property to protect it; now this land is threatened by rising waters and climate change. Consequently the group is planting many trees. Riverkeeper, and the Estuary Program, are also detailed. PCBs were among the toxins released into the river, working their way up the food chain. Nobody had thought of cleaning up the sediment behind the Fort Edward Dam before demolishing it. Hence came the requirement for a Superfund site to clean up the hazardous waste. Next came the potential hazard of crude oil spills.

This is a familiar story, from the Thames in London to Toms River in New Jersey; industry and spreading humanity want the cheapest, easiest way to be rid of waste, so chuck it in the river, regardless of human health or the needs of the natural ecosystem. The river then pollutes the sea, putting yet more livelihoods at risk. Regulation often follows public and media outcry. At the end the author is realistic about how far taxes have to go and how much residents can do. Jobs are a big incentive to ignore pollution.

"Riverkeeper and other organizations have demonstrated, time and again, that some governmental officals, from the EPA and the state DEC to mayors, local councilmen and woman, routinely protect polluters and subvert the public interest."

David Schuyler proposes some measures to safeguard the Hudson - still far from clean - and increase income from the area, for instance by tourism. I think he could have come up with more, but no doubt others are doing that work. I found this book readable, though Americans will be more familiar with the many names and locations given. Paragraphs are often long and packed, so this is not for school age people, but students of journalism, environmental sciences, electricity generation and city planning should put Embattled River high on their to-read list.

Notes P243 - 269 in my e-ARC. I found 30 names which I could be sure were female, increasing as the chapters came more up to date.
I downloaded an e-ARC from Net Galley. This is an unbiased review.

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My dad was involved in the environmental movement, and his work overlapped significantly with some of the events recorded in this book. While I found it slightly dense and somewhat academic, this is a really outstanding look at the movement's impact on one crucially important river. As a resident of New York City and a lover of the Hudson, I feel even more strongly about its protection. A good read for those who dig this kind of thing.

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