Last week I read Robert Sullivan‘s quite excellent The Meadowlands, a leisurely travel book which documents the author’s journeys around the badlands and swamplands and dumping grounds of New Jersey. The land is, essentially, poisoned, having functioned as a dump for the nearby city of New York for so long. There are some memorable boat journeys across acrid swamps, quests for the remnants of New York’s old Pennsylvania Station, which were dumped somewhere in the Meadowlands in the 1960s.
Last November, I took a train journey across New Jersey, crossing the Meadowlands as I went, and was struck by the beautiful – and scarred – landscape. It was reminiscent of East Anglia, but had been more obviously affected by the intensity of 20th Century industrialisation: dumping grounds everywhere, road and rail bridges jaggedly skirting the horizon. Sullivan’s book is a helpful and engaging explanation of how the place got that way. He’s also written a book about New York’s rat population, and a more recent book about travelling across the USA.
An NPR radio show about Sullivan here.
Garret
July 13, 2007 at 1:56 pm
You know what, I reckon Tony Soprano has a lot to answer for in relation to the state of New Jersey. How come he never gets mentioned when this comes up? Another travesty of american justice if you ask me.
ps – Meadowlands sounds like a great read, where’s the best place to pick up a copy?
karl.whitney
July 13, 2007 at 1:58 pm
In the bargain basement of Hodges Figgis – it’s about 5 euro. A steal.