Description: Chronicles the story of the Erie Canal from its inception to today.
Brief description: Karen E. Quinn is Senior Historian and Curator, Art and Culture at the New York State Museum. She is the author (with Brad L. Utter with Ashley Hopkins-Benton) of Enterprising Waters: The History and Art of New York's Erie Canal, also published by SUNY Press. She lives in Cooperstown, New York.
Review Quotes:
"...Enterprising Waters packs an impressive amount of history into its 400-plus pages." -- Hudson River Valley Review
"...the definitive guide about the history of the Erie Canal." -- Jack Rightmyer, Albany Times Union
"Profusely illustrated with captioned period photography throughout, Enterprising Waters is enhanced for academia with the inclusion of a two page Bibliography, two pages of Notes, and a fourteen page Index, making it an exceptional work that is unreservedly recommended for community, college, and university library American Transportation History collections in general, and Erie Canal history supplemental studies lists in particular." -- Midwest Book Review
"Enterprising Waters is, like the Erie Canal itself, an ambitious achievement. Its spectacular visual images vividly portray the waterway's material world as well as its artistic legacy, while the accompanying text concisely covers two centuries of Erie Canal history. No matter how much, or how little, readers know already about New York's artificial waterways, they can learn from (and enjoy!) this beautiful catalog." -- Carol Sheriff, author of The Artificial River: The Erie Canal and the Paradox of Progress, 1817-1862
"A fine presentation in words and images of the great project that inspired New York and the nation." -- Gerard Koeppel, author of Bond of Union: Building the Erie Canal and the American Empire