Rivers Run Through Us (Feb 2024)

[Rachel]

I love rivers so of course I want to read any book about or involving rivers. This book is about 10 rivers in North America (including "my" river the Mississippi) and explores the natural and human history of each. The blurb from the back of the book says: "In this profound new work, Eric Taylor takes readers on a grand tour of 10 of North America's more important river systems, exploring one fundamental issue for each that illustrates the critical role each particular stream has had - and will have - in the human development of North America." Happy reading and let me know what you think!

[Rachel]

I finally finished this book! I give it 3 stars. I think it wasn't quite what I was expecting. Each river chapter gives a lot of geology, European explorer history, some Indigenous history, and then focuses on 1 aspect of the river. Most of the focus issues were environmental degradation (dams, mining, etc), endangered species (delta smelt), or water usage (irrigation) or water rights issues (state vs state, etc). The chapter on the Mississippi River focused on the role of the river during the civil war, which I thought was a weird aspect to focus on given that there's many more modern day topics - river diversions, shipping, saltwater intrusion , etc. The book seemed well researched but it all felt a little disjointed. I suppose the book was as advertised, based on the blurb I posted above, just ultimately wasn't what I expected.