BOOKS RECEIVED

This Fine Piece of Water, An Environmental History of Long Island Sound, Tom Andersen, Forward by Robert F. Kennedy, Jr., Yale University Press, New Haven & London, 2002.

The Long Island Sound, A History of its People, Places and Environment, Marilyn E. Weigold, New York University Press, New York and London, 2004

This Fine Piece of Water is a well researched, but ultimately intensely personal, polemic. Robert F. Kennedy, Jr's introduction, with its extraordinary metaphor of the frog in boiling water, is perfectly attuned to the book's pitch. The author's opening chapter, which serves as a Prologue, chooses as its subject, the moment when 350-plus years of human activity nearly accomplishes the death of the Sound, the 1987 episode of hypoxia which killed so many fish and lobsters. His following chapters become a chronology of human activity and achievement, which, in an equal and opposite reaction, succeed in further exploiting a fragile resource. The beauty of this book is the spare elegance of his prose, coupled with what amounts to a personal search for hope and redemption of a resource we happily but carelessly use. The author never loses his point, which finally is to inspire us to care, not just for our own limited interests, but for the salvation of a vastly important resource.

The Long Island Sound, is comprehensive in scope, tracing in acute detail the history of settlement and its attraction to, and interaction with, the Sound, which borders it. This is indeed a fascinating and compelling chronicle pointing inexorably to potential catastrophe. The author has a great grasp of the forces--- social, political, economic and physical--which contribute to the condition of the Sound as we know it today. Her interest in land use and planning issues, with which she enlivens her narrative, permits the reader to not only participate in how it happened, but why it happened, as it did. The book is imbued with a lively intelligence, which carries the reader through what could be an overwhelming amount of information. While there are many interesting black and white photographs, mostly by the author, unfortunately the print quality diminishes their impact. Originally published in 1974 as The American Mediterranean, this is an update which includes many new illustrations and brings the history of the region, as it impacts the Sound, up-to-date.
This Fine Piece of Water is available from most online booksellers and larger book stores, list price is $30.00.
The Long Island Sound is available at the SPLIA Gallery, 1 Shore Road, Cold Spring Harbor, for $25.95.

Roslyn Restored, The Legacy of Roger & Peggy Gerry; Ellen Fletcher Russell, Mount Ida Press, (Albany, NY) and Gerry Charitable Trust, 2004

When Roslyn first became the Gerry's home, there were many Long Island communities on the North and South shores which had similar retention of their Nineteenth Century fabric. Today there are few, even in communities with active preservation programs. These programs came in many cases too late and did not include the multi-pronged approach that the Gerry's instituted in Roslyn. What set Roslyn apart, and still does, is its ability through the Roslyn Preservation Corporation to purchase and otherwise position landmarks for preservation. The second instrument was a very strong landmark ordinance, which enabled control of factors, beyond the typical Long Island landmark law, indeed where there was such. The third tool was that the actors played multiple roles, and sat on various community Boards, such as the Village, Planning and Zonings Boards, so that they could extend their reach into those areas which in time will, if not done with preservation in mind, destroy a community's integrity. Particularly interesting was the growth of the Gerry's understanding of the appropriate purview of historic preservation, from the preservation of individual buildings as artifacts, later to encompass involvement in community planning concerns, as better planning meant the successful preservation of context.

This book gives us people we can care about, models we might emulate, and instructive lessons in process.
Available at the SPLIA Gallery, 1 Shore Road, Cold Spring Harbor, for $30.

Concrete Country Residences, Atlas Portland Cement Company, reprinted by Athena Books, Barcelona-Singapore, 2004.

This is a facsimile reprint of the 1908 edition. It showcases examples of residences throughout the United States which used either reinforced concrete, concrete block, or stucco in their construction. The Atlas Portland Cement Company, the largest cement company of its time, published the book as a guide to those “who are about to build, with the hope that the illustrations and descriptions contained in its pages will assist them in successfully planning their future residences of concrete thus assuring themselves that their homes will be proof against the destroying elements of frost, flood, and flame and will combine the qualities of comfort, permanency and beauty.”

The format of the book includes a photograph and a floor plan of each structure and information regarding the type of concrete construction as well as the name of both the owner and architect. The residences range from large elaborate structures by Carrrere & Hastings, C.P.H. Gilbert, Trowbridge & Livingston, and John Russell Pope, to modest cottages. Styles have a similar range from highly decorative, detailed Colonial Revival, Tudor-Jacobean, and Spanish Colonial styles, to simple bungalows and several spare Prairie Style residences. Several Long Island residences are featured.
Available at the SPLIA Gallery, 1 Shore Road Cold Spring Harbor, for $18.00.