Waterfront Manhattan: From Henry Hudson to the High Line

by Kurt C. Schlichting Narrated by Joel Richards

Overview

For hundreds of years, the shorefront of Manhattan Island served as the country's center of trade, shipping, and commerce. With its maritime links across the oceans, along the Atlantic coast, and inland to the Midwest and New England, Manhattan became a global city and home to the world's busiest port. It was a world of docks, ships, tugboats, and ferries, filled with cargo and freight, a place where millions of immigrants entered the Promised Land.



In Waterfront Manhattan, Kurt C. Schlichting tells the story of the Manhattan waterfront as a struggle between public and private control of New York's priceless asset. Nature provided New York with a sheltered harbor but presented the city with a challenge: to find the necessary capital to build and expand the maritime infrastructure. From colonial times until after the Civil War, the city ceded control of the waterfront to private interests, excluding the public entirely and sparking a battle between shipping companies, the railroads, and ferries for access to the waterfront.



Waterfront Manhattan is a wide-ranging history that will dazzle anyone who is fascinated by New York.

Editorial Reviews

Publishers Weekly

03/19/2018
Sociology professor Schlichting provides a useful addition to the growing number of accessible history books that examine the Big Apple through a narrow lens. While the city is no longer a central hub of maritime industry, Manhattan became a global power partly because of New York Harbor. Schlichting, who uses primary sources such as bills of entry and passenger lists, traces the results of the city government’s strategy, beginning in the 1730s and extending into the late 19th century, of funding waterfront infrastructure by selling underwater land to private developers who were to build the necessary wharves and piers. That choice not only affected the number of ships that could dock, but also enabled the development of ships that operated on set schedules, which facilitated significant immigration and altered the physical structure of the waterfront. In clearly labeled short sections chock-full of facts and figures, Schlichting carries the story through to the present, when private capital has again been used to develop the waterfront, this time for mostly residential use, and ends with the open question of whether the current “complex arrangement of private/public control will meet the environmental challenges to come,” such as rising water levels and hurricanes. Schlichting effectively employs his expertise and diligent research to produce a valuable and easy-to-follow reference highlighting the essential role of the waterfront in New York City’s development. (May)

From the Publisher

Well researched, engagingly told, and rich in historical, sociological, and economic detail, Waterfront Manhattan represents a new way to look at the ascendancy and growth of America's most important city.
—Ray Bert, Civil Engineering

In Waterfront Manhattan, Schlichting has woven an impressive narrative which is sure to shed light on this underappreciated aspect of New York City history.
—Erin Becker, Long Island Maritime Museum, Global Maritime History

This is an important book. There is much to ponder on the future of New York City's harbor, encompassing all five of the city's boroughs and also New Jersey's shoreline.
—Evelyn Gonzalez, William Paterson University, Journal of American History

Civil Engineering - Ray Bert

Well researched, engagingly told, and rich in historical, sociological, and economic detail, Waterfront Manhattan represents a new way to look at the ascendancy and growth of America's most important city.

Global Maritime History - Erin Becker

In Waterfront Manhattan, Schlichting has woven an impressive narrative which is sure to shed light on this underappreciated aspect of New York City history.

Journal of American History - Evelyn Gonzalez

This is an important book. There is much to ponder on the future of New York City's harbor, encompassing all five of the city's boroughs and also New Jersey's shoreline.

Product Details

BN ID:	2940171245979
Publisher:	Tantor Audio
Publication date:	02/12/2019
Edition description:	Unabridged

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