Página InicialGruposDiscussãoMaisZeitgeist
Pesquisar O Sítio Web
Este sítio web usa «cookies» para fornecer os seus serviços, para melhorar o desempenho, para analítica e (se não estiver autenticado) para publicidade. Ao usar o LibraryThing está a reconhecer que leu e compreende os nossos Termos de Serviço e Política de Privacidade. A sua utilização deste sítio e serviços está sujeita a essas políticas e termos.

Resultados dos Livros Google

Carregue numa fotografia para ir para os Livros Google.

A carregar...

Inventing Niagara: Beauty, Power, and Lies

por Ginger Strand

Outros autores: Ver a secção outros autores.

MembrosCríticasPopularidadeAvaliação médiaMenções
1162233,131 (3.43)4
Americans call Niagara Falls a natural wonder, but the Falls aren't very natural anymore. In fact, they are a study in artifice. Water diverted, riverbed reshaped, brink stabilized and landscape redesigned, the Falls are more a monument to man's meddling than to nature's strength. Held up as an example of something real, they are hemmed in with fakery -- waxworks, haunted houses, IMAX films and ersatz Indian tales. A symbol of American manifest destiny, they are shared politely with Canada. Emblem of nature's power, they are completely human-controlled. Archetype of natural beauty, they belie an ugly environmental legacy still bubbling up from below. On every level, Niagara Falls is a monument to how America falsifies nature, reshaping its contours and redirecting its force while claiming to submit to its will. Combining history, reportage and personal narrative, Inventing Niagara traces Niagara's journey from sublime icon to engineering marvel to camp spectacle. Along the way, Ginger Strand uncovers the hidden history of America's waterfall: the Mohawk chief who wrested the Falls from his adopted tribe, the revered town father who secretly assisted slave catchers, the wartime workers who unknowingly helped build the Bomb and the building contractor who bought and sold a pharaoh. With an uncanny ability to zero in on the buried truth, Strand introduces us to underwater dams, freaks of nature, mythical maidens and 280,000 radioactive mice buried at Niagara. From LaSalle to Lincoln to Los Alamos, Mohawks to Marilyn, Niagara's story is America's story, a tale of dreams founded on the mastery of nature. At a time of increasing environmental crisis, Inventing Niagara shows us how understanding the cultural history of nature might help us rethink our place in it today.… (mais)
Nenhum(a)
A carregar...

Adira ao LibraryThing para descobrir se irá gostar deste livro.

Ainda não há conversas na Discussão sobre este livro.

» Ver também 4 menções

Mostrando 2 de 2
A really fascinating, engrossing book, not dry at all, with sections about the development of industry in Niagara Falls, urban development, encounters between Native Americans and explorers in the area, the Power Vista, nuclear weapons production, Love Canal, the Honeymoon Industry, and the extensive engineering projects that have completely remade the Falls. It was especially interesting for me because I grew up in Niagara County and it addresses the little stories people here always tell about the Bomb, Love Canal, engineers turning the Falls on and off, etc... I've been to the Falls a thousand times and I'm dying to go back and look at all the places Strands talks about. The chapter about the creation of the atomic bombs was a completely vital retelling of that history which highlights the casualties at home.
  amanda_dunker | Mar 12, 2023 |
This was an enjoyable "of local interest" book, looking at Niagara Falls through American history, from the transition of control of area from the Tuscarora tribe to the new settlers in the region, the creation of the whole concept of the honeymoon in America, hydro-electric power, Love Canal and other chemical and nuclear waste, and most recently, the introduction of casinos on both the Canadian and American sides.

It's a very chatty book, and I enjoyed the tone -- this is someone who clearly likes history and trivia and weird asides but will also come out and offer her fairly educated opinion about some of the goings-on she discovers in her research, both historical and in the present day. As someone who is native to the region, I loved coming across bits in this book that had some elements that were known to me, often through family stories or more folksy sources, and other aspects that were completely new information.

There's this on-going theme, that comes up in the title, that there's been this contradiction about what is really going on with the Falls and how it is presented in order to promote whatever it is people were/are trying to market - everything from the creation of the park to how the power is generated. I get it, but I thought it might have been slightly improved with less repetition.

I would recommend to people who like the conversational history approach, there's something similar to Sarah Vowell, although not nearly so over the top. I was saying recently that something that annoys ... well, annoys is a strong word, so maybe not that strong but anyway, Sarah Vowell is often making these self-depreciating comments in her books about how her various socio-historical obsessions make people think she is odd and so they'll avoid her at parties and things, but that always seems a little disingenuous to me, she's famous and her friends are well-known quirky writers and other celebrities so I honestly doubt too many people are avoiding her at parties, in fact I bet people try to get her going so they can enjoy whatever engaging thing she comes out with. With this author, on the other hand, when she describes the awkwardness of her social interactions involving things like her love of hydro-infrastructure, I believe her and empathize with her. ( )
1 vote delphica | Oct 23, 2009 |
Mostrando 2 de 2
sem críticas | adicionar uma crítica

» Adicionar outros autores

Nome do autorPapelTipo de autorObra?Estado
Strand, Gingerautor principaltodas as ediçõesconfirmado
White, KarenNarradorautor secundárioalgumas ediçõesconfirmado
Tem de autenticar-se para poder editar dados do Conhecimento Comum.
Para mais ajuda veja a página de ajuda do Conhecimento Comum.
Título canónico
Informação do Conhecimento Comum em inglês. Edite para a localizar na sua língua.
Título original
Títulos alternativos
Data da publicação original
Pessoas/Personagens
Locais importantes
Informação do Conhecimento Comum em inglês. Edite para a localizar na sua língua.
Acontecimentos importantes
Filmes relacionados
Epígrafe
Dedicatória
Primeiras palavras
Citações
Últimas palavras
Nota de desambiguação
Editores da Editora
Autores de citações elogiosas (normalmente na contracapa do livro)
Língua original
DDC/MDS canónico
LCC Canónico

Referências a esta obra em recursos externos.

Wikipédia em inglês (4)

Americans call Niagara Falls a natural wonder, but the Falls aren't very natural anymore. In fact, they are a study in artifice. Water diverted, riverbed reshaped, brink stabilized and landscape redesigned, the Falls are more a monument to man's meddling than to nature's strength. Held up as an example of something real, they are hemmed in with fakery -- waxworks, haunted houses, IMAX films and ersatz Indian tales. A symbol of American manifest destiny, they are shared politely with Canada. Emblem of nature's power, they are completely human-controlled. Archetype of natural beauty, they belie an ugly environmental legacy still bubbling up from below. On every level, Niagara Falls is a monument to how America falsifies nature, reshaping its contours and redirecting its force while claiming to submit to its will. Combining history, reportage and personal narrative, Inventing Niagara traces Niagara's journey from sublime icon to engineering marvel to camp spectacle. Along the way, Ginger Strand uncovers the hidden history of America's waterfall: the Mohawk chief who wrested the Falls from his adopted tribe, the revered town father who secretly assisted slave catchers, the wartime workers who unknowingly helped build the Bomb and the building contractor who bought and sold a pharaoh. With an uncanny ability to zero in on the buried truth, Strand introduces us to underwater dams, freaks of nature, mythical maidens and 280,000 radioactive mice buried at Niagara. From LaSalle to Lincoln to Los Alamos, Mohawks to Marilyn, Niagara's story is America's story, a tale of dreams founded on the mastery of nature. At a time of increasing environmental crisis, Inventing Niagara shows us how understanding the cultural history of nature might help us rethink our place in it today.

Não foram encontradas descrições de bibliotecas.

Descrição do livro
Resumo Haiku

Current Discussions

Nenhum(a)

Capas populares

Ligações Rápidas

Avaliação

Média: (3.43)
0.5
1
1.5
2
2.5
3 7
3.5 3
4 3
4.5 1
5

É você?

Torne-se num Autor LibraryThing.

 

Acerca | Contacto | LibraryThing.com | Privacidade/Termos | Ajuda/Perguntas Frequentes | Blogue | Loja | APIs | TinyCat | Bibliotecas Legadas | Primeiros Críticos | Conhecimento Comum | 202,657,197 livros! | Barra de topo: Sempre visível