Above the Oxbow: Stories Entangled with a Mountain

by Danielle R. Raad

298 pages, Paperback

Published April 7, 2026

About the author

Danielle Raad is assistant professor of history and museum studies at the University of Georgia. She is a public historian, anthropologist, archeologist, and curator with a focus on how people in the present make meaning from the material culture—art, artifacts, and historic sites—of the past.

Reviews

[Reader · Rating 5 out of 5]

I never realized how much a book could make me want to experience a place until I read this one. Now I truly want to visit Mount Holyoke, breathe the mountain air, and see for myself what Raad described so beautifully.

I have always loved reading, and books have taken me to countless places through their stories. But this is the first time I have found myself longing to visit a real place because of the way it was described. Raad made Mount Holyoke feel like much more than a mountain. It became a place filled with history, emotion, and meaning.

One of my favorite ideas in the book is that a place is not defined only by its physical landscape, but also by the memories, emotions, values, and experiences we bring to it. The same location can become many different places depending on who is experiencing it. I also loved the literary references, especially the connection to Sylvia Plath, which added another layer of meaning to the story.

By the end, I found myself reflecting on how every journey has the potential to change us. We may return to where we started, but we rarely come back as the same person.

A beautiful, thoughtful, and inspiring book that stayed with me long after I finished reading it. 5/5.

[The Piccolo Reader · Rating 5 out of 5]

Above the Oxbow is a profound and immersive read that follows the myriad personal histories on Mount Holyoke that have shaped its present. The author provides an engaged personal account of how time and space form the story of a mountain, and would be a lovely read for anyone wanting to find a fresh way to consider the trails they walk on, archaeological and anthropological traces in nature, and the future state of what we consider historic institutions. While the writer has thoughtfully crafted a methodology for studying personal sense of place with rigor, the following in the footsteps of many from a walk of life is poetic. Ultimately, the author gives us a thoughtful framework to consider the places that we ourselves are attached to, and how our own histories are incorporated into their futures.

[Natalie Lacoste · Rating 4 out of 5]

Enjoyed reading this history and exploration of the Summit House and those who have experienced it for themselves. I did find that some chapters contained a lot of repetition within the specific chapter. But for those who are drawn to Mt Holyoke and specifically to the structure atop it, it was a fun read.