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Foreword by Robert Stone
“This is a haunting and insightful work that transcends the picturesque to approach the profound.” ––Robert Stone, from the Foreword
Route 22 is a 300-mile highway that connects Manhattan and Montreal. One day while driving on it, Benjamin Swett was struck by the contrast between the landscape he could see through his car window and the more romantic one he remembered from his childhood. Without any particular plan, he set out to discover how the upstate New York of James Fenimore Cooper and Thomas Cole became this other place––a seemingly lost, untended region of Off-Track Betting Parlors and Tattoo Emporiums, abandoned diners, and ancient buildings crumbling into forgotten canals. The result of his exploration is this book, an engaging and deeply personal meditation on a complicated and beautiful landscape, accompanied by ninety evocative photographs.
BENJAMIN SWETT is the former director of the Parks in Print program at the New York City Parks Department, and is best known for Great Trees of New York City: A Guide; Bronx River New York; Fort Greene Park Brooklyn and many other publications, including his recent book Route 22, published by The Quantuck Lane Press. He lives in Manhattan with his wife and three children.
ROBERT STONE is the acclaimed author of seven novels, including A Hall of Mirrors and Dog Soldiers; the short story collection Bear and His Daughter; and the memoir Prime Green: Remembering the Sixties. He lives with his wife in New York City.
June 2007
$35.00 Clothbound (Can. $43.50) 8 x 8 inches 90 duotone photographs 192 pages PHOTOGRAPHY/REGIONAL