2016 NY Sheep and Wool Festival

The History of the Hudson River Valley From the Civil War to Modern Times is the companion volume of Vernon Benjamin’s acclaimed history of the Hudson River Valley.  The two volumes, span from the post-Civil War period through the twentieth century, and into the present day. Vernon Benjamin’s magisterial first volume, The History of the Hudson River Valley: From Wilderness to the Civil War presented nearly 250 years of the Hudson River Valley’s dynamic past with unmatched richness and detail.

Now, in the final volume, Benjamin completes his account of the region by taking readers from the post-Civil War period into the present day. Here we see the formation of the great estates of the Valley, including the Rockefellers, Sunnyside, and Olana, and how the turn of the twentieth century brought a new era of growth and prosperity to the region. A young Franklin Delano Roosevelt takes his first political steps in the New York senate during this time, and Thomas Dewey’s work as New York State governor morphed him into a viable candidate on the national political stage as well. In short, the twentieth-century Hudson River Valley was a hotbed of wealth, influence, and culture, a significant and vibrant scene of American development. By taking his narrative all the way into the post-September 11 present moment, Vernon Benjamin concludes his engaging, readable, and comprehensive history of one of America’s most significant and culturally important regions. Richly illustrated and meticulously researched, The History of the Hudson River Valley: From the Civil War to Modern Times will be the definitive text on the subject for years to come.