Lecture: "Embattled River"

"Embattled River: The Hudson and Modern American Environmentalism"

This event has been postponed due to speaker conflict. Stay tuned for details!!

Saturday, February 23, 2019 | 2:00 PM | Riverport Wooden Boat School Classrom

$5/person | HRMM members FREE

In his book, 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.

Speaker Bio:

David Schuyler is Arthur and Katherine Shadek Professor of the Humanities and American Studies, Franklin & Marshall College. Schuyler is author of numerous books, including the award-winning Sanctified Landscape: Writers, Artists, and the Hudson River Valley, 1820–1909, as well as Embattled River, which was released in May, 2018.