Gowanus: Brooklyn’s Curious Canal - Rilegato

Alexiou, Joseph

Rilegato

ISBN 10: 1479892947 ISBN 13: 9781479892945

Casa editrice: New York Univ Pr, 2015

Riassunto

For more than 150 years, Brooklyn’s Gowanus Canal has been called a cesspool, an industrial dumping ground, and a blemish on the face of the populous borough—as well as one of the most important waterways in the history of New York harbor. Yet its true origins, man-made character, and importance to the city have been largely forgotten.  Now, New York writer and guide Joseph Alexiou explores how the Gowanus creek—a naturally-occurring tidal estuary that served as a conduit for transport and industry during the colonial era—came to play an outsized role in the story of America’s greatest city. From the earliest Dutch settlers of New Amsterdam, to nearby Revolutionary War skirmishes, or the opulence of the Gilded Age mansions that sprung up in its wake, historical changes to the Canal and the neighborhood that surround it have functioned as a microcosm of the story of Brooklyn’s rapid nineteenth-century growth.  Highlighting the biographies of nineteenth-century real estate moguls like Daniel Richards and Edwin C. Litchfield, Alexiou recalls the forgotten movers and shakers that laid the foundation of modern-day Brooklyn. As he details, the pollution, crime, and industry associated with the Gowanus stretch back far earlier than the twentieth century, and helped define the culture and unique character of this celebrated borough. The story of the Gowanus, like Brooklyn itself, is a tale of ambition and neglect, bursts of creative energy, and an inimitable character that has captured the imaginations of city-lovers around the world. 

Su questo libro

L'autore:

Joseph Alexiou is the author of the sixth edition of Paris for Dummies and a licensed New York City tourguide. His writing has appeared in the New York Observer, Gothamist and New York Magazine’s Daily Intel.

Su questa edizione

• Editore: New York Univ Pr
• Data di pubblicazione: 2015
• ISBN 10: 1479892947
• ISBN 13: 9781479892945
• Rilegatura: Copertina rigida
• Numero di pagine: 399