Product Description

The very rivers that make the best trout streams - fast, cold, and clear - also gave birth to the American industrial revolution. Nowhere has this been more true than in an area not far from New York City where three Connecticut rivers, the Housatonic, the Shepaug, and the Naugatuck, have hosted an emblematic procession of industry, from the first woolen mills and iron foundries to the brass and rubber factories and hydroelectric plants of the twentieth century. Despite three hundred years of development, stretches of these rivers still thrive, offering great trout fishing and a postcard-perfect New England landscape. The Trout Pool Paradox unravels a conundrum: why does the Naugatuck River teeter on the edge of extinction, while in a parallel valley just a few miles away, the Shepaug appears to flow in a pristine state? Probing this puzzle takes George Black deep into the complex ecology of rivers and into the heart of the human communities on their banks. Presenting intimately detailed stories of early industrialists, nineteenth-century naturalists, and contemporary river stewards and their adversaries, The Trout Pool Paradox throws brilliant light on our dynamic relationship with nature and on the conflicting demands we will make on our waterways in a postindustrial age.

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #1976506 in Books
• Published on: 2004-03-10
• Original language: English
• Binding: Hardcover
• 336 pages

From Publishers Weekly
At the heart of the trout pool paradox and Black's work is the notion that the "limpid currents at the base of waterfall" are where both fish and factories flourish. To plumb this irony, Black follows the history of Connecticut's Housatonic River and the divergent tales of two of its main tributaries: the Shepaug ("the Platonic ideal of a trout stream") and the Naugatuck ("a chemical sewer"). Tracing the region's history from the white settlers' arrival in the 17th century, Black shows how, thanks to a little luck, bad business and regional pride, the Shepaug remained more isolated than the Naugatuck, which became the power source (and the toilet) for Waterbury and its once booming brass business. But this is more than just a history book. Black (The Good Neighbor) goes to great lengths to show how a trout river is created by nature, interviewing the environmentalists, fishermen, lawyers, politicians and businesspeople who deal with the difficult task of balancing the river's ecological and economic impact. When it comes to researching these rivers, Black leaves no stone unturned, both searching out historical texts and local experts and literally wading in the rivers and flipping stones to examine the rivers' insects. Black's writing smoothly runs the gamut from highly scientific to the poetic prose you might expect from a fly fisherman raised in Scotland. And while the mixing of genres—science, history, fishing, etc.—may initially scare off some single-minded readers, Black's open-minded approach to each subject makes for a comprehensive account of how water shapes our natural and man-made environments. Photos.
Copyright © Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

From Booklist
*Starred Review* An ardent fly-fisherman, Black became deeply curious about the complex history of Connecticut's beautiful Housatonic watershed, home of his favorite trout-fishing spots. He is particularly intrigued with the opposite fates of two tributaries, the pristine Shepaug and the nearly moribund Naugatuck. What combination of chance and purpose protected one from industrialization and turned the other into a dammed and fouled ghost of its former self? And what can be learned from contemplating what Black calls the "trout pool paradox," the fact that the trout pool, beautiful and bountiful, possesses the very elements--limestone, fast water, and a forest canopy--needed for iron production, the first of several toxic industries to bring prosperity and pollution to Connecticut? Emulating the king of narrative nonfiction, John McPhee, Black, energetically inquiring and entertainingly informative, introduces a colorful cast of characters historic and living, from iron barons and brass magnates to politicians, scientists, fishermen, and environmental activists, as he tells the fascinating stories of wild trout and trout hatcheries, hydropower and blast furnaces, PCBs and caddis flies, unintended consequences and court cases. A many-faceted and illuminating tale of one man's love of fishing, three rivers, and the tremendous challenge of restoring rivers to health. Donna Seaman
Copyright © American Library Association. All rights reserved

About the Author
George Black is a writer on foreign affairs issues, currently in the field of human rights. He has published a number of books by prestigious houses. Currently Senior Policy Analyst with the Lawyers Committee for Human Rights, he lives in New York City and is a fly fisherman.