The Hudson [Paperback]

A prolific writer of prose, poetry, and regional history, Carl Carmer first gained national attention with Stars Fell n Alabama, a book about Alabama folkways. But it is his writings about upstate New York, where he was born and lived for much of his life, that firmly established him as a folk historian and master storyteller. The Hudson, originally published in 1939, is the most popular of these writings.

Best of the Rivers of America series, The Hudson is less a formal historical account of the discovery and development of the river that a personal, anecdotal view of it. Included are tales of white-sailed sloops and steamboats racing from Albany to New York; of old whalers and trader sea dogs of the Catskill shore; of showboats playing anti-rent meoldramas to incite farmers against their landlords; of great disasters and heroic deeds; of the efforts of the Hudson River School to capture sublimity on canvas; of the quarrelsome, rough-and-tumble life of the Dutch along the river's banks, and many more.

This commemorative fiftieth anniversary edition features 16 new drawings by Hudson River artist Edward J. McLaughlin, a foreward by New York historian Louis C. Jones, and an afterword by Roger Panetta, professor of history at the College of New Rochelle.

[Carmer] tells the story of what I consider to be the most scenic of all American rivers through a series of episodes handed down from generation to generation. The style is intimate and his manner of story telling is mesmeric. And when youve turned the last page, youve been entertained and educated about the heartland of America.