The Riverkeepers - Hardcover

Cronin, John

Hardcover

ISBN 10: 0684839083 ISBN 13: 9780684839080

Publisher: Scribner, 1997

Synopsis

The authors describe their confrontations and eventual triumphs over the electric power industry, Exxon, the Army Corps of Engineers, and other environmental lawbreakers

About this title

Review:

In the 1960s the Hudson River, under threat from polluters and energy concerns but beloved by its shoreline residents and local fishermen, became one of the United States' first major environmental battlegrounds. Out of those early legal wrangles emerged some important environmental legislation, and also the Soundkeeper organization, with a mandate to fight for the health of this historic New York river.

This book reveals something about the organization, and even more about the history of the Hudson and environmentalism in America, from John Winthrop to Newt Gingrich, and quite a bit, too, about the upbringings--glamorous (who'd have thought keeping a pet seal in your swimming pool would lead to activism?) and not-so-unusual--of its authors. Promising early chapters sketch out the exploitation of the river by industry and describe some of its colorful champions. (One of the most interesting here is Robert H. Boyle, the writer of a seminal account of the Hudson, The Hudson River: A Natural and Unnatural History, who comes off as a hero.) A terrific final section explains in accessible terms the basis for environmental law in the founding of our country. In between, this book sometimes falters under the weight of too much information. You can't fault these writers for the work they've done, or for the scattered gems of thoughtful information on the modern environmental movement, which make this book worth reading. Just be prepared to pick through some irrelevancies (did Bobby Shriver really bring a leopard tortoise home for Robert Kennedy Jr. from Kenya in a suitcase?) to get to the heart of this unusual book. --Maria Dolan

About the Author:

John Cronin is a former commercial fisherman who was appointed Hudson Riverkeeper in 1983 and lives in Garrison, New York, where he serves as vice president of his local school board.

About this edition

• Publisher: Scribner
• Publication date: 1997
• ISBN 10: 0684839083
• ISBN 13: 9780684839080
• Binding: Hardcover
• Edition number: 1
• Number of pages: 304