Where the River Burned
Carl Stokes and the Struggle to Save Cleveland
by David Stradling; Richard Stradling
This title was previously available on NetGalley and is now archived.
Send NetGalley books directly to your Kindle or Kindle app
1
To read on a Kindle or Kindle app, please add kindle@netgalley.com as an approved email address to receive files in your Amazon account. Click here for step-by-step instructions.
2
Also find your Kindle email address within your Amazon account, and enter it here.
Pub Date May 07 2015 | Archive Date Mar 10 2015
Description
In the 1960s, Cleveland suffered through racial violence, spiking crime rates, and a shrinking tax base, as the city lost jobs and population. Rats infested an expanding and decaying ghetto, Lake Erie appeared to be dying, and dangerous air pollution hung over the city. Such was the urban crisis in the "Mistake on the Lake." When the Cuyahoga River caught fire in the summer of 1969, the city was at its nadir, polluted and impoverished, struggling to set a new course. The burning river became the emblem of all that was wrong with the urban environment in Cleveland and in all of industrial America.Carl Stokes, the first African American mayor of a major U.S. city, had come into office in Cleveland a year earlier with energy and ideas. He surrounded himself with a talented staff, and his administration set new policies to combat pollution, improve housing, provide recreational opportunities, and spark downtown development. In Where the River Burned, David Stradling and Richard Stradling describe Cleveland's nascent transition from polluted industrial city to viable service city during the Stokes administration.The story culminates with the first Earth Day in 1970, when broad citizen engagement marked a new commitment to the creation of a cleaner, more healthful and appealing city. Although concerned primarily with addressing poverty and inequality, Stokes understood that the transition from industrial city to service city required massive investments in the urban landscape. Stokes adopted ecological thinking that emphasized the connectedness of social and environmental problems and the need for regional solutions. He served two terms as mayor, but during his four years in office Cleveland's progress fell well short of his administration’s goals. Although he was acutely aware of the persistent racial and political boundaries that held back his city, Stokes was in many ways ahead of his time in his vision for Cleveland and a more livable urban America.
Advance Praise
"Where the River Burned exposes the
precarious role of cities in the evolving environmental agenda of the
late 1960s. David Stradling and Richard Stradling do a superb job of
showing how urban decline and the environmental movement were
intertwined. Carl Stokes provides an ideal lens through which to explore
these themes because of his perceptive understanding of that
relationship. The authors make clear that urban actors played an
important role in advancing the nation's
environmental movement by delivering Congressional testimony, staging
protests, and highlighting a distinctive set of urban problems."—Andrew
Hurley, University of Missouri–St. Louis, author of Beyond Preservation: Using Public History to Revitalize Inner Cities
"In Where the River Burned, David Stradling and Richard
Stradling offer fresh insight into the 'urban crisis' of the 1960s and
beyond by telling the story of Cleveland during the administration of
Carl Stokes, the first black mayor of a major U.S. city. Stradling and
Stradling argue that the environmental and urban problems of the Stokes
years were inseparable. Cleveland’s environmental woes—from pollution to
rats—contributed powerfully to the problems of depopulation,
neighborhood decay, violence, and racial strife. At the same time,
efforts to improve the urban environment were handicapped by the need to
address a host of other pressing problems. Where the River Burned
is a wonderfully written book that will change the way you think about
urban and environmental history."—Adam Rome, Unidel Helen Gouldner Chair
for the Environment and Professor of History and English at the
University of Delaware, and author of The Genius of Earth Day: How a 1970 Teach-In Unexpectedly Made the First Green Generation
"Where the River Burned is a penetrating analysis of
Cleveland's history of urban woes and how Carl Stokes, the city’s first
African American mayor, responded to howls of opposition from the city’s
polluting industries. An all-American story."—Antero Pietila, author of
Not in My Neighborhood
"What a fascinating story! Where the River Burned combines the
best of many worlds: environmental and urban history; captivating
writing and deep archival research; broad analysis of American society
and an engrossing portrait of an unsung but incredibly significant
political figure: Carl Stokes, the first African American elected mayor
of a major U.S. city. Once you read this book, how you think about
racism, poverty, economics, population changes, politics, and pollution
in American cities will change forever."—Brian Purnell, author of Fighting Jim Crow in the County of Kings
"David and Richard Stradling have produced an important work that notes
the centrality of environmental problems to the urban crisis of the
1960s and 1970s. Where the River Burned will make us seriously consider the vital connection between ecology and urban space."—Clarence Taylor, author of Reds at the Blackboard
Available Editions
| EDITION | Other Format |
| ISBN | 9780801453618 |
| PRICE | $29.95 (USD) |
Links
Average rating from 5 members
Readers who liked this book also liked:
© 2025 NetGalley LLC
• All Rights Reserved
