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Rediscovering America On The Hudson
Free Press
September 2009
On Sale: September 8, 2009
320 pages
ISBN: 1416586989
EAN: 9781416586982
Hardcover
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Non-Fiction Memoir
In 2001, journalist Jessica DuLong ditched her dot-com desk
job for the diesel engines of a rusty antique fireboat, the
John J. Harvey, and the storied waters of the Hudson
River. My River Chronicles: Rediscovering America on the
Hudson tells the story of this mechanic's daughter and
Stanford graduate who had left her blue-collar upbringing
behind until the fireboat drew her back, offering a chance
to become an engineer and a taste of home she hadn't
realized she was missing. The more time DuLong spent
toiling in the engine room, running the boat's finely
crafted machinery, the more she wondered what America is
losing in our shift away from hands on work. These questions
crystallized in the aftermath of the September 11, 2001,
attacks, when the FDNY called the retired fireboat back into
service, and DuLong and the rest of the boat's civilian crew
pumped water to fight blazes at Ground Zero. As blue-collar
workers clambered on the pile, DuLong was struck by the
dignity of physical labor and the honor of having joined the
world of skilled labor whose talents were useful at the
site. DuLong brings her two worlds vibrantly to life in
this beautifully written memoir that evokes the vitality of
New York City's bygone working waterfront and the Hudson
River, a birthplace of American industry. Blending four
centuries of Hudson River history with unforgettable
present-day characters and events, DuLong offers a
porthole-view narrative of the river and its social tapestry
as a microcosm of postindustrial America. As she tracks
changes along the shoreline, where industrial sites give way
to recreational respites, a celebration of American labor
and craftsmanship emerges. While searching along the river's
edge for the meaning of work in America, DuLong pays homage
to our industrial past and raises important questions about
the future at this pivotal moment in our national
story. My River Chronicles is a journey with an
extraordinary guide, a woman who bridges blue-collar and
white-collar worlds and turns a phrase as deftly as she does
a wrench. Soulful and illuminating, My River
Chronicles is a deeply personal story of a unique
woman's discovery of her own roots -- and America's -- as
she runs the fireboat's diesels on the ever-changing river
that flows both ways.
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