A Land Beyond the River - Hardcover

Casey, Jack

Hardcover

ISBN 10: 096398862X ISBN 13: 9780963988621

Publisher: Diamond Rock Pub Co, 2005

Synopsis

Governer DeWitt Clint asks Eleanora Van Rensselaer, an aristocrat, and Daniel Hedges, a ship captain, to work out a plan for the Erie Canal

About this title

About the Author

Jack Casey studied literature at Yale University and University of Edinburgh. His other works include LILY OF THE MOHAWKS (Bantam, 1984) and THE TRIAL OF BAT SHEA (Diamond Rock, 1994). Mr. Casey maintains a law office in Troy, NY and serves as Parliamentarian of the New York State Senate. His daughter Molly studies political science at New York University, and his son John studies literature and music at McGill University, Montreal. Mr. Casey lives in Averill Park, NY.

From the Inside Flap

The year is 1810. The infant American nation clings to its Atlantic seaboard, blocked from westward expansion by a mountain range. For decades men have dreamt of digging a canal west from the Hudson, 350 miles across New York, to unlock the untold riches of the west. Yet these visionaries lacked the necessary skill and willpower and political might.Enter: DeWitt Clinton, mayor of New York City. Ignoring the nay-sayers and cynics, Clinton seizes upon the Erie Canal as the crowning triumph in a life of dedicated service to the people of New York State, and as a pathway to the governor's office, and even the presidency.At a lavish ball, Clinton's confidante, Eleanora Livingston Van Rensselaer, a young widow of the landed gentry, encounters Daniel Hedges, a merchant and ship captain from Lake Erie. Hedges' confidence and bearing challenger her eastern notions of social class and worth, and immediately she sees that his frontier ingenuity can climb all ridges and ford all streams. She enlists Hedges to survey and design the canal, yet soon the hawkish faction of Clinton's party plunges America into the War of 1812.From the stunning naval victory on Lake Erie to the British invasion of Washington,D.C., Daniel and Eleanora persevere through deep personal crises until they can join again in the colossal work that will open the continent to growth, and allow them to discover -- in their steadfast commitment to Clinton's ideal -- a new kind of love between a man and a woman.

Edition details

• Publisher: Diamond Rock Pub Co
• Publication date: 2005
• Language: English
• ISBN 10: 096398862X
• ISBN 13: 9780963988621
• Binding: Hardcover
• Number of pages: 328