Water for Gotham: A History Paperback - 2001 - 1st Edition

First line

Mary Fitzgerald was "a neat housekeeper," said the doctors, her family "decent and cleanly people, and their habits temperate."

From the rear cover

"Koeppel's lively and absorbing account of supplying water to New York amounts to a history of life itself in the city during its first two centuries. Disease, social habits, business and industry--virtually all aspects of public and private life in the city--have at times been shaped by the simple and basic need for supplies of clean water. This is a scholarly study written to capture anyone's imagination."--Ethan Carr, author of Wilderness by Design

"Engrossing and entertaining, Water for Gotham is a beautifully written romp through some juicy Big Apple history."--Alice Outwater, author of Water: A Natural History

"Delightfully told and informative, Gerard Koeppel's Water for Gotham: A History is as fresh and sparkling as the waters of the Croton Aqueduct."--Tony Hiss, author of The Experience of Place

"A meticulously researched and thoroughly documented history, Gerard Koeppel's Water for Gotham is also a well-paced story--or more precisely a collection of stories--about how 'Old New York' took its initial steps toward becoming the world's quintessential metropolis. This book will be valued--and enjoyed--not only by historians and urban planners, but also by anyone interested in the city's growth and development."--Thomas Mellins, coauthor of New York 1880, New York 1930, and New York 1960

"Water for Gotham delivers an important historical story about the little-noticed underpinnings of American city life, a tale rich with health and environmental issues that resonate to the present day. It also tellingly analyzes what passed for 'water policy' in old New York and water's centrality to everyday routines and in crises (fires, epidemics), while documenting the miseries New Yorkers suffered due to long term failures of vision and finance."--Philip Scranton, Rutgers University, author of Endless Novelty

Media reviews

Citations

• New York Times, 03/31/2002, Page 20