- Hardcover: 372 pages
- Publisher: Princeton University Press; 1st Edition edition (12 April 2000)
- Language English
- ISBN-10: 0691011397
- ISBN-13: 978-0691011394
- Product Dimensions: 24.1 x 16.3 x 2.8 cm
- Average Customer Review: 5.0 out of 5 stars See all reviews (1 customer review)
- Amazon Bestsellers Rank: 4,351,821 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
- See Complete Table of Contents
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Product Description
Caleb Carr, The New York Times Book Review
Extraordinarily well-researched and remarkably readable. . . . Entertaining and highly useful.
Review
Koeppel's study, an engaging read, follows the tortuous origins of the city's much-delayed water system. In doing so, "Water for Gotham uncovers a rich historyBa history that seemed to have been forgotten nearly as soon as the fresh water began to flow.
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Mary Fitzgerald was "a neat housekeeper," said the doctors, her family "decent and cleanly people, and their habits temperate." Read the first page
Front Cover | Copyright | Table of Contents | Excerpt | Index | Back Cover
Mary Fitzgerald was "a neat housekeeper," said the doctors, her family "decent and cleanly people, and their habits temperate." Read the first page
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Customer Reviews
Most Helpful Customer Reviews
1 of 1 people found the following review helpful
Format:Hardcover|Amazon Verified Purchase
So goes The Rime Of The Ancient Mariner by Samuel Taylor Coleridge. New York City although surrounded by sea water just couldn't get enough drinking water to satisfy the needs of an expanding population. Early Manhattan settlers obtained water for domestic purposes from shallow privately-owned wells with the first public well being dug in front of the old fort at Bowling Green in 1677. In 1776, when the population reached approx 22,000, a reservoir was built between Pearl and White Streets and supplied by the Collect Pond nearby. However, as the population increased The Collect Pond became badly polluted spreading much disease. Even a well sunk at Reade and Centre Streets in 1800 by the Manhattan Company (now the J P Morgan Chase Bank)soon became polluted and the supply insufficient.
This book tells graphically of the various life-taking diseases such as cholera, small pox and yellow fever, caused primarily by polluted drinking water supplies which caused much distress and personal danger to the inhabitants and led to a mass exodus from Lower Manhattan to then undeveloped areas such as Greenwich. The 1832 very severe cholera epidemic and the Great Fire three years later (worsened by lack of water) were instrumental in forcing the City's leaders to unite and do something about the lack of clean water.
The author, Gerard T Koeppel's account of how New York City went about the task of impounding water from the Croton River and the herculean engineering feat of constructing an aqueduct to carry the water from what is now Westchester County, is well (if you excuse the pun) researched and also a fascinating and interesting romp through some of Gotham's most gripping history.
A book about water supplies interesting? Yes, and highly recommended.
This book tells graphically of the various life-taking diseases such as cholera, small pox and yellow fever, caused primarily by polluted drinking water supplies which caused much distress and personal danger to the inhabitants and led to a mass exodus from Lower Manhattan to then undeveloped areas such as Greenwich. The 1832 very severe cholera epidemic and the Great Fire three years later (worsened by lack of water) were instrumental in forcing the City's leaders to unite and do something about the lack of clean water.
The author, Gerard T Koeppel's account of how New York City went about the task of impounding water from the Croton River and the herculean engineering feat of constructing an aqueduct to carry the water from what is now Westchester County, is well (if you excuse the pun) researched and also a fascinating and interesting romp through some of Gotham's most gripping history.
A book about water supplies interesting? Yes, and highly recommended.
Most Helpful Customer Reviews on Amazon.com (beta)
Amazon.com:
7 reviews
32 of 32 people found the following review helpful
A new book tells the epic tale of Old New York
27 Mar 2000
Format:Hardcover|Amazon Verified Purchase
When we turn on the tap we take it for granted that pure and wholesome water is supposed to come out. For Americans in the early 1800's, the supply of fresh water to New York City was an achievement on the order of the moon landing in our era -- carrying a river for 40 miles through hills and valleys and across rivers to a desperate island city.
The amazing story of New York's water supply has long been known to historians, infrastructure buffs and residents of the Westchester villages through which the beautiful Old Croton Aqueduct still passes. Gerard Koeppel's new book, Water for Gotham: a History, makes this story accessible to all.
Unlike previous works on the subject, which have emphasized the engineering accomplishments of the Croton Aqueduct, this book explores New York City's social and political history with a liveliness and wit that make the turbulent decades following the American Revolution come to life. Experience the terror of cholera and great fires, the antics of scoundrels and demagogues, and the heights of idealism, dedication and genius that are all intertwined in this epic tale.
Mr. Koeppel's book is impressively researched and is a true contribution to our understanding of New York history. That a work of non-fiction is so lively and engrossing is another reminder that truth is stranger than fiction.
8 of 8 people found the following review helpful
a simple compound for a complex city
5 Jan 2004
Format:Paperback
Gerard Koeppel has done a remarkable job of ferretng out material and documents which demonstrate how long it took, how much cash it took, how much politicking it took to get the simple compound H2O to complex NYC. I don't mean to be glib about this. As one reviewer has noted, Manhattan without fresh supplies of water would've been another unliveable coastal town.
Just like DeWitt Clinton's Erie Canal brought goods in and out of the city, the many visionaries (Burr[for politicial and banking reasons] and Colden [for practical reasons]) gave the city an enormous insurance policy for its future which is difficult to ignore.
This book is a compelling dedication to the people who saw the need for the reservoir system and made it a reality. Sometimes the book gets bogged down with details, but that's to be expected. What wasn't expected, by this reader, was the author's perserverance and dedication to this important matter, and for that he deserves the highest accolades.
Rocco Dormarunno, author of THE FIVE POINTS, and THE FIVE POINTS CONCLUDED, A Novel
8 of 9 people found the following review helpful
Water For Gotham
7 Jun 2000
Format:Hardcover
It is about time that an in-depth book on the subject of New York's water supply was completed. The author has done a fabulous job of putting a highly readable work together that brings to life a period we rarely think about and a topic hardly considered in our hurried modern lives. Reality, however, is that New York without water would be just another coastal town. Those interested in a photographic history of the same topic should seek The Croton Dams and Aqueduct which will be publihsed by Arcadia Press in August of 2000.
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