Nineteen Reservoirs: On Their Creation and the Promise of Water for New York City

Nineteen Reservoirs: On Their Creation and the Promise of Water for New York City

by Lucy Sante
Nineteen Reservoirs: On Their Creation and the Promise of Water for New York City

Nineteen Reservoirs: On Their Creation and the Promise of Water for New York City

by Lucy Sante

Paperback

$19.95 
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Overview

Now in paperback: acclaimed author Lucy Sante’s “eye-opening tale of the greed and corruption but also diplomacy and ingenuity” (The Washington Post) involved in the creation of the upstate reservoir system that makes New York City’s existence possible—but irreparably altered rural ecosystems and communities

From 1907 to 1967, a network of reservoirs and aqueducts was built across more than one million acres in upstate New York, including Greene, Delaware, Sullivan, and Ulster Counties. This feat of engineering served to meet New York City’s ever-increasing need for water, sustaining its inhabitants and cementing it as a center of industry. West of the Hudson, it meant that twenty-six villages, with their farms, forest lands, orchards, and quarries, were bought for a fraction of their value, demolished, and submerged, profoundly altering ecosystems in ways we will never fully appreciate.

This paradox of victory and loss is at the heart of Nineteen Reservoirs, Lucy Sante’s meticulous account of how New York City secured its seemingly limitless fresh water supply, and why it cannot be taken for granted. In inimitable form, Sante plumbs the historical record to surface forgotten archives, bringing lost places back to life on the page. Her immaculately calibrated sensitivity honors both perspectives on New York City’s reservoir system and helps us understand the full import of its creation.

An essential history of the New York City region that will reverberate far beyond it, Nineteen Reservoirs examines universal divisions in our resources and priorities—between urban and rural, rich and poor, human needs and animal habitats. This is an unmissable account of triumph, tragedy, and unintended consequences.


Product Details

ISBN-13: 9781891011726
Publisher: The Experiment
Publication date: 05/28/2024
Pages: 208
Sales rank: 1,046,697
Product dimensions: 8.90(w) x 5.50(h) x 0.70(d)

About the Author

Lucy Sante was born in Verviers, Belgium, and is the author of ten books, her first being Low Life (FSG, 1991). Sante’s other books include EvidenceThe Factory of FactsKill All Your DarlingsThe Other ParisFolk PhotographyMaybe the People Would Be the Times, and I Heard Her Call My Name. She is the recipient of a Whiting Award, Guggenheim and Cullman fellowships, an Award in Literature from the American Academy of Arts and Letters, a Grammy (for album notes), and an Infinity Award for Writing from the International Center of Photography. Sante has contributed to the New York Review of Books since 1981 and to many other publications. She recently retired after twenty-four years teaching at Bard College.
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