From its origins in northern New York State's Adirondack mountains to its majestic sweep alongside Manhattan's busystreets, the Hudson River holds a unique place in the history of American art, architecture, and literature. This book exploresthe river's complex history through a variety of thematic currents: the natural river, the imagined river, the human river,and the working river. Along with important works by famed Hudson River School painters, such as Albert Bierstadt andThomas Cole, this volume features exciting new literary contributions by Rick Moody, Carolyn Forche, John Stilgoe,Philip Lopate, and others. Objects of material culture, tourism,and science provide a fascinating background of the river's many lives while the works of contemporary artists, including Matthew Buckingham Peter Hutton, Yvonne Jacquette, and An-My Lê, ask us to reconsider our use of the river and our relationship with nature and history. This book presents an intersection of contrasting and varied stories environmental, historical, and individual whose journeys all lead back to the Hudson itself. AUTHOR: Ian Berry is Associate Director and The Susan Rabinowitz Malloy Curator of The Frances Young Tang Teaching Museum and Art Gallery at Skidmore College. His most recent publication is Fred Tomaselli. Tom Lewis is Professor of English at Skidmore College. Among his many books are Divided Highways: The Interstate Highway System and the Transformation of American Life and Empire of the Air: The Men Who Made Radio these also became award-winning documentaries. ILLUSTRATIONS 200 colour photos
