Join us for an in-person event with acclaimed author Lucy Sante for the release of her latest title Nineteen Reservoirs : On Their Creation and the Promise of Water for New York City. Joining Lucy in conversation is author and deputy editor at VICE Amy Rose Spiegel. This event will be hosted in the Strand Book Store's 3rd floor Rare Book Room at 828 Broadway on 12th Street.

STRAND IN-PERSON EVENT COVID-19 POLICY:

In-person events will be presented to a fully vaccinated and masked audience. All patrons over the age of five will be required to show proof* of having completed the COVID-19 vaccination series at least 14 days prior to the date of the event.

*Proof of vaccination will be defined as either an original vaccination card, Excelsior Pass or its equivalent. We will be checking to ensure compliance with the 14 day waiting period post-vaccination.

Registration will be required online. No tickets for entry will be sold at the door. -------------------------------------------------------------------- By the author of Low Life, the now-classic history of NYC’s outlaw underbelly—a meticulously researched, evocatively illustrated, profoundly meditative account of the city’s upstate reservoirs.

Without the upstate reservoir system and its seemingly limitless supply of fresh water, New York City would not exist as we know it today. But this engineering triumph—now sustaining more than 3 million households and countless businesses—came at a cost. From 1907 to 1967, twenty-six upstate villages, their farms, forests, and other natural areas were acquired, demolished, and submerged to create a water supply system that would sustain a world class city. Whole communities and ecosystems were profoundly altered on both ends of the water supply chain.

This paradox of victory and loss is at the heart of Nineteen Reservoirs. In inimitable form, Lucy Sante plumbs the historical record to surface forgotten archives and images, bringing lost places back to life on the page. Her immaculately calibrated sensitivity honors both perspectives on New York City’s reservoir system and helps us understand the full cultural and ecological import of its creation.

An essential history of the New York City region that will reverberate far beyond it, Nineteen Reservoirs examines universal divisions in our resources and priorities—between urban and rural, rich and poor, human needs and animal habitats.

828 Broadway 3rd Floor, Rare Book Room Map
212-473-1452