The Riverkeepers: Two Activists Fight to Reclaim Our Environment as a Basic Human Right - Softcover

Cronin, John; Kennedy Jr., Robert

Softcover

ISBN 10: 068484625X ISBN 13: 9780684846255

Publisher: Simon & Schuster, 1999

Synopsis

A modern-day David and Goliath tale, The Riverkeepers is an impassioned firsthand account by two advocates who have taken on powerful corporate and government polluters to win back the river they love. John Cronin and Robert F. Kennedy, Jr., report from the frontline of environmental activism, the Hudson River Valley, to tell us how we too can fight and win by reclaiming a fundamental right that dates back to the Magna Carta - the right to defend and enjoy our invaluable natural resources. Revealing shocking stories of commonplace environmental crime - from drinking water tainted with hospital waste to fish populations contaminated by freely dumped PCBs - John and Bobby describe their dramatic confrontations with more than ninety environmental lawbreakers. They vividly recount the hands-on investigations, the groundbreaking court battles, and the courageous local heroes that characterize their mission to bring to justice some of the world's most powerful institutions. Interweaving the personal, philosophical, and political, The Riverkeepers is a timely call to action that will resonate across America as the backlash spearheaded by congressional leaders and their major corporate allies threatens to reverse the hard-won victories in environmental law and policy. It is an eloquent and essential reminder that environmentalism is really about defending democracy and our most basic rights as citizens.

About this title

Review:

In the 1960s the Hudson River, under threat from polluters and energy concerns, beloved by its shoreline residents and local fishermen, became one of the United States' first major environmental battlegrounds. Out of those early legal wrangles emerged some important environmental legislation, and also the Soundkeeper organisation, with a mandate to fight for the health of this historic New York river.

This book reveals something about the organisation, even more about the history of the Hudson and of environmentalism in America, from John Winthrop to Newt Gingrich, and quite a bit, too, about the upbringings--glamorous (who'd have thought keeping a pet seal in your swimming pool would lead to activism?) and not-so-unusual--of its authors. Promising early chapters sketch out the exploitation of the river by industry, and describe some of its colourful champions. (One of the most interesting here is Robert H. Boyle, the writer of a seminal account of the Hudson, The Hudson River: A Natural and Unnatural History, who comes off as a hero.) A terrific final section explains in accessible terms the basis for environmental law in the founding of the United States. In between, this book sometimes falters under the weight of too much information. You can't fault these writers for the work they've done, or for the scattered gems of accessible, thoughtful information on the modern environmental movement that make this book worth reading. Just be prepared to pick through some irrelevancies (did Bobby Shriver really bring a leopard tortoise home for Robert Kennedy, Jr. from Kenya in a suitcase?) to get to the heart of this unusual book. --Maria Dolan, Amazon.com

Review:

Samuel G. Freedman The Riverkeepers comes as the tonic for a cynical age. It reminds us that the truest idealists are warriors of a sort.

Vice President Al Gore from the Foreword The Riverkeepers is the kind of personal account America needs to hear more often.

Craig Wilson USA Today The Riverkeepers often reads as much like a detective novel as it does a primer on how to reclaim a river.

Barry Werth Outside A blueprint for ecosystem protection.

Bill McKibben author of The End of Nature and Maybe One This fine book chronicles two great rivers: the mighty Hudson, unimaginably rich with life, and the equally mighty stream of environmental law that began flowing with the Magna Carta. If each can be freed from the sewage left by corporate polluters, they may nourish us for many centuries yet. Thank God for the Riverkeepers!

About this edition

• Publisher: Simon & Schuster
• Publication date: 1999
• ISBN 10: 068484625X
• ISBN 13: 9780684846255
• Binding: Paperback
• Number of pages: 304