America's First River

America's First River
Author: Thomas S. Wermuth
Publisher: SUNY Press
Total Pages: 272
Release: 2009-09-25
Genre: History
ISBN: 9780615308296

Examines the many facets of the Hudson’s rich history, distinctive regional culture, and important contributions to the development of modern America. Since its inception in 1984, The Hudson River Valley Review has taken an eclectic and interdisciplinary approach to a region that has long been recognized for its role in American colonial history; its important contributions to American arts, letters, and architecture; its role in the economic development of the nation; and its significant and ongoing contributions to American culture and history. This collection of essays brings together eighteen of the best essays from the Review’s first twenty-five years of publication. From natives and newcomers to twentieth-century leaders, the authors of these essays examine the many facets of the Hudson’s rich history, distinctive regional culture, and important contributions to the development of modern America.

The River Where America Began

The River Where America Began
Author: Bob Deans
Publisher: Rowman & Littlefield Publishers
Total Pages: 336
Release: 2008-12-16
Genre: History
ISBN: 0742564894

From the establishment of the first permanent English colony at Jamestown in 1607 to the fall of Richmond in 1865, the James River has been instrumental in the formation of modern America. It was along the James that British and Native American cultures collided and, in a twisted paradox, the seeds of democracy and slavery were sown side by side. The culture crafted by Virginia's learned aristocrats, merchants, farmers, and frontiersmen gave voice to the cause of the American Revolution and provided a vision for the fledgling independent nation's future. Over the course of the United States' first century, the James River bore witness to the irreconcilable contradiction of a slave-holding nation dedicated to liberty and equality for all. When that intractable conflict ignited civil war, the James River served as a critical backdrop for the bloodiest conflict in U.S. history. As he guides readers through this exciting historical narrative, Deans gives life to a dynamic cast of characters including the familiar Powhatan, John Smith, Patrick Henry, Thomas Jefferson, Benedict Arnold, and Robert E. Lee, as well as those who have largely escaped historical notoriety. The River Where America Began takes readers on a journey along the James River from the earliest days of civilization nearly 15,000 years ago through the troubled English settlement at Jamestown and finishes with Lincoln's tour of the defeated capital of Richmond in 1865. Deans traces the historical course of a river whose contributions to American life are both immeasurable and unique. This innovative history invites us all to look into these restless waters in a way that connects us to our past and reminds us of who we are as Americans.

People of the River

People of the River
Author: W. Michael Gear
Publisher: Macmillan
Total Pages: 548
Release: 2009-12
Genre: Fiction
ISBN: 0765364492

All the Gears' previous titles in the First North American series have been national bestsellers. Now, People of the River is finally available in mass-market. This gripping saga tells of the Mound Builders of the Mississippi Valley. In a time of many troubles, a warchief and his people have lost all hope. But hope is revived with a young girl learning to Dream of Power.

Environmental History of the Hudson River

Environmental History of the Hudson River
Author: Robert E. Henshaw
Publisher: State University of New York Press
Total Pages: 407
Release: 2011-09-01
Genre: Science
ISBN: 1438440286

Winner of the 2012 Award for Excellence presented by the Greater Hudson Heritage Network The diverse contributions to Environmental History of the Hudson River examine how the natural and physical attributes of the river have influenced human settlement and uses, and how human occupation has, in turn, affected the ecology and environmental health of the river. The Hudson River Valley may be America's premier river environmental laboratory, and by bringing historians and social scientists together with biologists and other physical scientists, this book hopes to foster new ways of looking at and talking about this historically, commercially, and aesthetically important ecosystem. Native people's influences on the ecological integrity of aquatic and shoreline communities were generally local and minor, and for the first 12,000 years or so of human use, the Hudson River was valued mainly as a source of water, food, and transportation. Since the arrival of European colonists, however, commerce has been the engine that has driven development and use of the river, from the harvesting of beaver pelts and timber to the siting of manufacturing industries and power plants, and all of these uses have had pervasive effects on the river's aquatic and terrestrial ecosystems. In the meantime, aesthetic movements such as the Hudson River School of painting have sought to recover and preserve the earlier pastoral landscape, anticipating the more recent efforts by environmentalists that have led to dramatic improvements in water quality, shoreline habitats, and fish populations. Despite the pervasive forces of commerce, the Hudson River has retained its world-class scenic qualities. The Upper Hudson remains today a free-flowing, tumbling mountain stream, and the Lower Hudson a fjord penetrated and dominated by the Hudson Highlands. The Hudson's unique history continues to affect current uses and will surely influence the future in remarkable ways.

The Battle for the Buffalo River

The Battle for the Buffalo River
Author: Neil Compton
Publisher: University of Arkansas Press
Total Pages: 502
Release: 2010-03-01
Genre: Nature
ISBN: 1557289352

Under the auspices of the 1938 Flood Control Act, the U.S. Corps of Engineers began to pursue an aggressive dam-building campaign. A grateful public generally lauded their efforts, but when they turned their attention to Arkansas’s Buffalo River, the vocal opposition their proposed projects generated dumbfounded them. Never before had anyone challenged the Corps’s assumption that damming a river was an improvement. Led by Neil Compton, a physician in Bentonville, Arkansas, a group of area conservationists formed the Ozark Society to join the battle for the Buffalo. This book is the account of this decade-long struggle that drew in such political figures as supreme court justice William O. Douglas, Senator J. William Fulbright, and Governor Orval Faubus. The battle finally ended in 1972 with President Richard Nixon’s designation of the Buffalo as the first national river. Drawing on hundreds of personal letters, photographs, maps, newspaper articles, and reminiscences, Compton’s lively book details the trials, gains, setbacks, and ultimate triumph in one of the first major skirmishes between environmentalists and developers.

Chaining the Hudson

Chaining the Hudson
Author: Lincoln Diamant
Publisher: Citadel Press
Total Pages: 0
Release: 2000-05
Genre: Hudson River Valley (N.Y. and N.J.)
ISBN: 9780806515359

River Republic

River Republic
Author: Daniel McCool
Publisher: Columbia University Press
Total Pages: 410
Release: 2012
Genre: Nature
ISBN: 0231161301

Daniel McCool chronicles the surging grassroots movement to bring America's rivers back to life and ensure they remain pristine for future generations. This book confirms the surprising news that America's rivers are indeed returning to a healthier, free-flowing condition. Through passion and dedication, ordinary people are reclaiming the American landscape, forming a nation-wide "river republic" of concerned citizens from all backgrounds and sectors of society. McCool profiles the individuals he calls "instigators," who initiated the fight for these waterways and have succeeded in the near-impossible task of challenging and changing the status quo. He ties the history, culture, and fate of America to its rivers and presents their restoration as a microcosm mirroring American beliefs, livelihoods, and an increasing awareness of our shared environmental fate.

Hudson River Valley National Heritage Area

Hudson River Valley National Heritage Area
Author: Hudson River Valley National Heritage Area
Publisher: SUNY Press
Total Pages: 132
Release: 2016-07-07
Genre: Travel
ISBN: 0997152753

New for 2016, a completely updated guide to the Heritage Sites of the Hudson River Valley National Heritage Area Traveling down the Hudson River, named by Native Americans the river that flows both ways, you discover people, places, and events that made American history. The cultural, historic, and scenic resources of the Hudson Valley are so numerous, so varied, and so compelling that it’s no wonder Congress recognized the Hudson River Valley as a National Heritage Area in 1996. The National Park Service called the region the “landscape that defined America” and characterized the valley as “an exceptionally scenic landscape that has provided the setting and inspiration for new currents of American thought, art, and history.” Its political importance was demonstrated early in our history when the river played a critical role in the Revolutionary War. The many streams and waterfalls of the tributaries of the Hudson River powered early sawmills and gristmills. The river and its landscapes inspired the Hudson River school of painters. Sublime and picturesque paintings by Thomas Cole, Frederic Church, and Asher Durand depicted this unique American landscape for the world to witness. Industrialists and commercial leaders like William and John D. Rockefeller, Frederick Vanderbilt, J. P. Morgan, and Ogden Mills built their great estates along the Hudson River. The second edition includes completely updated user-friendly design and vibrant photography; heritage site pages that include brief descriptions, contact information, and accessibility site characteristics; and National Park Service Passport Stamp locations with new cancellation stamp pages for your collection. Heritage sites in this guidebook are associated with areas of interest and categorized as must see, best bet, or special interest to make it easy to explore the stories of the Hudson River Valley. Heritage sites are also organized by geography and proximity to make it easy to find heritage sites nearby.

Key to the Northern Country

Key to the Northern Country
Author: James M. Johnson
Publisher: State University of New York Press
Total Pages: 330
Release: 2013-07-10
Genre: History
ISBN: 1438448139

The Hudson River Valley, which George Washington referred to as the "Key to the Northern Country," played a central role in the American Revolution. From 1776 to 1780, with major battles fought at Saratoga, Fort Montgomery, and Stony Point, the region was a central battleground of the Revolution. In addition, it witnessed some of the most dramatic and memorable aspects of the war, such as Benedict Arnold's failed conspiracy at West Point, the burning of New York's capital at Kingston, and the more than six-hundred-mile march of Washington and the Continental Army and Jean Baptiste Donatien de Vimeur, comte de Rochambeau, and his French Expeditionary Corps to Yorktown, Virginia. Compiled from essays that appeared in the Hudson Valley Regional Review and the Hudson River Valley Review, published by the Hudson River Valley Institute, the book illustrates the richly textured history of this supremely important time and place.

First Along the River

First Along the River
Author: Benjamin Kline
Publisher: Rowman & Littlefield Publishers
Total Pages: 241
Release: 2011
Genre: History
ISBN: 1442203994

"First Along the River provides a concise, updated introduction to U.S. environmental history. An excellent supplement for any student of the subject."--"Bob Buerger, professor of environmental studies, University of North Carolina, Wilmington --