Description: "Patrick D. Nugent shows that the political and environmental history of Staten Island is key to understanding how environmentalism has been used to reinforce racial discrimination not just in New York City but nationwide. Nugent demonstrates how postwar economic and political trajectories intersected in the 1960s with the rising consciousness of environmentalism to create a distinctive laboratory in Staten Island, where white communities and politicians heeded the rising call for the preservation of green space--but only as a tool to maintain racial segregation. As a result, environmentalists could point to some communities that had instrumentally embraced their objectives, though not their values"-- Provided by publisher.
Brief description:
Patrick D. Nugent is the Thomas V. Mike Miller Jr. Director of Civic Engagement at Washington College's Starr Center for the Study American Experience, as well as assistant research professor in the Department of Political Science.
Review Quotes:
"Nugent's The Greenlining of Staten Island is not only a refreshing addition to the paucity of scholarship on Staten Island, but a valuable reconsideration of aspects of the modern environmental movement and its relationship to issues of race and class. Using the concept of 'greenlining, ' Nugent elaborates the tensions and affinities associated with extending environmental goals and the connection to segregation. This is a very instructive read."
--Martin V. Melosi, author of "Fresh Kills: A History of Consuming and Discarding in New York City"