Items related to Inventing Niagara: Beauty, Power, and Lies
Synopsis
Americans call Niagara Falls a natural wonder, but the Falls aren't very natural anymore. In fact, they are a study in artifice. Water diverted, riverbed reshaped, brink stabilized and landscape redesigned, the Falls are more a monument to man's meddling than to nature's strength. Held up as an example of something real, they are hemmed in with fakery -- waxworks, haunted houses, IMAX films and ersatz Indian tales. A symbol of American manifest destiny, they are shared politely with Canada. Emblem of nature's power, they are completely human-controlled. Archetype of natural beauty, they belie an ugly environmental legacy still bubbling up from below. On every level, Niagara Falls is a monument to how America falsifies nature, reshaping its contours and redirecting its force while claiming to submit to its will.
Combining history, reportage and personal narrative, Inventing Niagara traces Niagara's journey from sublime icon to engineering marvel to camp spectacle. Along the way, Ginger Strand uncovers the hidden history of America's waterfall: the Mohawk chief who wrested the Falls from his adopted tribe, the revered town father who secretly assisted slave catchers, the wartime workers who unknowingly helped build the Bomb and the building contractor who bought and sold a pharaoh. With an uncanny ability to zero in on the buried truth, Strand introduces us to underwater dams, freaks of nature, mythical maidens and 280,000 radioactive mice buried at Niagara.
From LaSalle to Lincoln to Los Alamos, Mohawks to Marilyn, Niagara's story is America's story, a tale of dreams founded on the mastery of nature. At a time of increasing environmental crisis, Inventing Niagara shows us how understanding the cultural history of nature might help us rethink our place in it today.
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Book Description
"Strand dives headlong into what could have been treacherous waters for a lesser writer, melding a compelling narrative of ravaged nature, unchecked industry and government deceit with Niagara kitsch."
About the Author
Ginger Strand was raised in Texas, Missouri, Illinois, Wisconsin, and Michigan. Her fiction and essays have appeared in many places, including The Believer, The Iowa Review, The Gettysburg Review, and The Carolina Quarterly. She has been awarded fiction residencies by Yaddo, the Virginia Center for the Creative Arts, and the Sewanee Writers' Conference. She lives in New York City.
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- PublisherSimon & Schuster
- Publication date2008
- ISBN 10 1416546561
- ISBN 13 9781416546566
- BindingHardcover
- Edition number1
- Number of pages352
- Rating
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Inventing Niagara: Beauty, Power, and Lies
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Inventing Niagara: Beauty, Power, and Lies
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Inventing Niagara : Beauty, Power, and Lies
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ISBN 13: 9781416546566
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Inventing Niagara : Beauty, Power, and Lies
Published by
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ISBN 10: 1416546561
ISBN 13: 9781416546566
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Inventing Niagara
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Hardcover. Condition: Good. Dust Jacket Condition: Good. An exploration of Niagara Falls traces its history from natural wonder to engineering testament, in a report that reveals the impact of human development on the region and documents Niagara's ties to Native American rights, slavery, and the atomic bomb. Piece(s) of the spine missing. Binding is so loose that the book will stay open to any given page. Please note the image in this listing is a stock photo and may not match the covers of the actual item. Book. Seller Inventory # 123542074
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Inventing Niagara: Beauty, Power, and Lies
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Hardcover. Condition: Good. Dust Jacket Condition: Good. An exploration of Niagara Falls traces its history from natural wonder to engineering testament, in a report that reveals the impact of human development on the region and documents Niagara's ties to Native American rights, slavery, and the atomic bomb. Former library book. Mylar protector included. Please note the image in this listing is a stock photo and may not match the covers of the actual item. Ex-Library. Seller Inventory # 123521224
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