Up River: Man-Made Sites of Interest on the Hudson from the Battery to Troy

Up River: Man-Made Sites of Interest on the Hudson from the Battery to Troy
Matthew Coolidge and The Center for Land Use Interpretation
Hardcover • 9 x 6″ • 176 pages
Nonfiction • 86 full-color aerial photographs and a fold-out map • $19.95
ISBN: 978-0-922233-29-8

“Graphically illustrates the impact of civilization on the [Hudson] River. ”

—The New York Times

“I’ve spent much of my life living on the Hudson River, but I’ve never seen it like this. The history—human, industrial, environmental—of the East’s key river is told here in an entirely new fashion. Think ‘Hudson River School,’ twenty-first-century style.”

—Bill McKibben, author of Deep Economy and The Bill McKibben Reader

“An enthralling lens through which to (re)examine the cradle of American culture, Matthew Coolidge’s maverick text goes beyond the familiar landmarks to focus on current concerns, including industrial dystopias and environmental hazards, while also unearthing unforgettable gems.”

—Lynne Cooke, Curator, Dia Art Foundation

“The Center for Land Use Interpretation continues to blaze compelling new trails in contemporary thought with this latest publication. Up River explores the hybrid nature of today’s landscape with a nonjudgmental approach that allows us to grasp its true complexity. Must reading for anyone interested in the geography of the twenty-first century.”

—Ralph Rugoff, author of Circus Americanus, Director, The Hayward Gallery, London

Up River

Man-Made Sites of Interest on the Hudson from the Battery to Troy

Matthew Coolidge and The Center for Land Use Interpretation

With fascinating full-color aerial photographs that reveal man-made sites rarely seen by those who travel along the river’s banks, Up River tells the story of the Hudson River’s crucial role in the development of industry and modern America.

Millions of people in New York and New Jersey consider the Hudson River as familiar as their own backyard yet only have a superficial knowledge of the landscape and land use of this river’s waterfront. This revealing book deepens readers’ understanding with an aerial portrait of the river’s shores from the Battery, at the southernmost tip of Manhattan, to the river’s origin near Albany. Focusing on man-made sites rarely seen by those who travel along the river’s banksâ€”some of which can only be seen from the airâ€”the book showcases the shore area’s vanishing (or vanished) avenues, prisons, power plants, quarries, parks, condos, and redevelopments. Up River‘s photos and accompanying succinct text tell the story of how this river was used in developing industry and modern America from Revolutionary times through 19th-century exploitation of the waterfront to the beginnings of environmental activism that protects famous vistas from the quarriers of the Palisades.

To view John Strausbaugh’s video tour tour with Matthew Coolidge for The New York Times, click here.

The Center for Land Use Interpretation, a nonprofit organization, is dedicated to the increase and diffusion of knowledge about how the nation’s lands are apportioned, utilized, and perceived.

Matthew Coolidge founded the Center for Land Use Interpretation in 1994 and is the author of Up River: Man-Made Sites of Interest on the Hudson from the Battery to Troy; The Nevada Test Site: A Guide to America’s Nuclear Proving Ground; and Overlook: Exploring the Internal Fringes of America with the Center for Land Use Interpretation.