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

Cronin, John; Kennedy, Robert F.

ISBN 10: 0684839083 / ISBN 13: 9780684839080

Published by Scribner, New York, 1997

About this Item

First Printing with full number line. SIGNED by Cronin and Kennedy. NEAR FINE in price intact dust jacket. Cronin inscribed on blank page facing title page "To Paul - Be a Riverkeeper! - JC"; Kennedy inscribed on title page "To Paul - Robert F. Kennedy, Jr." No other markings, pages clean and fine. Hardcover near fine: slightly edge rubbed, top corners lightly bumped, one small spot on front cover. Unclipped jacket lightly rubbed at spine ends. Jacket is in a clear protector. Binding and hinges strong. 6-1/4 x 9-1/2"; 302 pp.

Seller Inventory # 003487

Bibliographic Details

• Title: The Riverkeepers: Two Activists Fight to Reclaim Our Environment as a Basic Human Right
• Publisher: Scribner, New York
• Publication Date: 1997
• Language: English
• ISBN 10: 0684839083
• ISBN 13: 9780684839080
• Binding: Hard Cover
• Edition: First Edition.
• Condition: Near Fine
• Dust Jacket Condition: Near Fine
• Signed: Signed by Authors
• Seller catalogs:
  • Natural History & Science
  • New York

About this title

Synopsis

The authors describe their confrontations and eventual triumphs over the electric power industry, Exxon, the Army Corps of Engineers, and other environmental lawbreakers

Reviews

Two leaders of the Hudson Riverkeeper organization, a New Yorkbased environmental advocacy group, recount their legal and public-relations battles against the polluters of one of America's famed waterways. Cronin, a former Hudson River commercial fisherman, and Kennedy, one of the new generation of that storied family, are, respectively, head and chief prosecuting attorney of the Hudson Riverkeeper group. The Hudson River, which had inspired artists and environmentalists such as Thomas Cole, Theodore Roosevelt, and John Burroughs, had become so polluted by the 1960s that swimming in its waters was forbidden. Cronin and Kennedy trace the grass-roots environmental activism that culminated in the formation of their organization in 1983. Since then, the group has filed close to 100 lawsuits, reportedly induced polluters to pay close to half a billion dollars to help restore the river, achieved a landmark agreement to protect New York City's water supply, and spawned a number of similar groups. The authors depict their enemies as numerous, well funded, and unscrupulous--including corporations such as Exxon and General Electric, as well as the ``most antienvironmental Congress in the nation's history.'' Despite their self-righteous rhetoric, the authors outline three important ways to counter right-wing stereotypes about environmental elitism. First, they advocate acting locally. Second, they urge that environmentalism not be seen as anti-growth, but as a way to preserve a decades-old industry (fishing) and prevent long-term community blight by companies who pursue short-term strategies. Third, they see environmentalism as the ultimate struggle ``against special interests who would monopolize, exclude, and liquidate [resources] for cash.'' While hardly objective, this manifesto sheds much light on how the modern environmental movement emerged at the local level and how it is striving to deal with the current, more hostile political landscape. -- Copyright ©1997, Kirkus Associates, LP. All rights reserved.

Former Hudson River commercial fisherman Cronin became an environmental activist when he saw that his river was too polluted to fish and founded Riverkeepers, of which Kennedy is chief prosecuting attorney. Here they tell the story of Riverkeepers' battle against environmental offenders.
Copyright 1997 Reed Business Information, Inc.