Sailing down the river that would later bear his captain’s name; explorer Robert Juet described the Hudson River Valley in 1609 as a “drowned land†submerged by a “great lake of water.†Over the next two centuries; this drowned landscape would be the site of a truly historic flowering of art; literature; architecture; innovation; and revolutionary fervor―drawing comparisons to another fertile cultural haven built around a might mighty river in Western Europe. As historian Vernon Benjamin chronicles; the Hudson River Valley has been a place of contradictions since its first settlement by Europeans. Discovered by an Englishman who claimed it for the Dutch; the region soon became home to the most vibrant trading outpost for the New World colonies―the Island of Manhattan―even as the rest of the valley retained the native beauty that would inspire artists from James Fenimore Cooper to Thomas Cole. Because of its unique geography and proximity to Canada; the Hudson Valley became the major theater for the battle between empires in the French and Indian War. When the colonists united in rebellion against the British several decades later; conflict came to the region once again; with decisive military engagements from Saratoga to West Point to the occupied New York Harbor. In the aftermath; New York emerged as the capital of a new nation; and wealth from the city flowed north to the burgeoning Valley; leading to a renaissance of culture and commerce that is still evident today. Richly illustrated and scrupulously researched; Vernon Benjamin’s magisterial new history will be the definitive text for years to come.
#1685599 in Books Georgetown University Press 2004-02-27Original language:EnglishPDF # 1 8.50 x .55 x 5.51l; .74 #File Name: 1589010019244 pages
Review
1 of 2 people found the following review helpful. School Board Battles: The Christian Right in Local PoliticsBy Glen AaronFallon presents investigative reporting of the attack by fundamentalist religion on our public school system at the ground level. Among other issues; the book well presents how the teaching of critical and independent thinking is being undermined in the public school system across the nation by a well funded and organized ideology.1 of 5 people found the following review helpful. Good info; hard to read formatBy Sharon Ashley RussellI had to use the book for a Political Science project in college; and I found it to be completely boring and hard to read. The chapters and the information contained within each does not flow very well and is very confusing. I attend the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill; and I found this book to be a chore to read and repetitive. To make the best of this book; just read the bold and larger titles and don't waste your time reading the monotonous details.4 of 5 people found the following review helpful. Educate yourself about the religious right with this bookBy Robin OrlowskiWashington College Assistant Professor Melissa M. Deckman delivers readers a fresh new portrait of the Christian right which; although still critical of their ultimate end goals; wants to understand how they were able to achieve their successes or not.Differing from the organizational research reports and partisan titles which already flood the market; Deckman's book has readers instead consider why the religious right enjoys so much electoral success even if a majority of American voters do not formally appear to support their ideas.She then wants us to consider how waging a campaign/counter campaign against these candidates and public officials is literally impossible when we actually do not know about the people who we want to run against.The thesis of Deckman's book is that both sides in a community demonize each other in the process of school board and local elections in an attempt to win support from undecided voters. The Christian right is at once both more similar and more complex than previous attack campaigns/counter-responses publicly have conceded. Articulating this complex nature will then enable myself and others to win more campaigns and more effectively sell our own policies to that swing public.Starting out with wanting to make major change; the Christian right candidates and/or elected officials subsequently are required to alter their grand world views in order to be a part of the system which they ultimately seek to change. Built on compromise; the American political system is subsequently not receptive to radical changes which these people (and other candidates) would like to make. Our campaign portrayals of these people might therefore indicate what they would like to do; but it does not actually acknowledge what they are permitted to do; held in check by the American government's system of checks and balances.Deckman's data includes case studies of elections held in Fairfax County Virginia and Garret County Maryland. These case studies prove that although they share some important group characteristics and goals; not all Christian right campaigns and then the candidates who run them are virtual `carbon copies' of each other. A vulnerability to internal dissent among various religious right candidates and office holders further lessens their being the `mighty boogeyman' of political jargon.She also suggests that both the `far right' candidates and my beloved liberal counterparts are much more alike than we actually are different. The research in this book uncovers that non-religious right school board candidates are also likely to be religiously affiliated and also are more likely to come from the community elite---who can afford to run in an election and hold public office. We have more in common with each other than we have previously thought and/or let on in campaigns and debates.Although I also read the more conventional broadsides against the right; and tend to agree with the left; Deckman's book is a critical step for defeating Christian right candidates.
