This American River: Five Centuries of Writing about the Connecticut FROM THE PUBLISHER
In This American River, novelist and premier New England nature writer W. D. Wetherell, long enamored of the river, celebrates the Connecticut in this eclectic anthology. Excerpted novels, essays, poems, Journals, and histories - by Henry David Thoreau, Charles Dickens, Mark Twain, Wallace Stevens, Rudyard Kipling, Francis Parkman, and a splendid array of such contemporary writers as Sylvia Plath, Bill McKibben, and Sydney Lea - together portray this magnificent American river in all its glory.
SYNOPSIS
A portrait in words, the first full-scale anthology of writing on the Connecticut River ever compiled.
FROM THE CRITICS
Library Journal
Probably for as long as any human society has lived in any given locale, people have told stories about its rivers. The American tradition of nature writing about rivers, as exemplified by this anthology, began almost as soon as Europeans settled the continent. The Connecticut has been a vital element in the history and ecology of New England, and, in that regard, the editor suggests that it is a uniquely "American" river. The contributions to this volume include guides, reports, travelogs, poetry, natural histories, and other genres. Unlike many anthologies, this one is not arranged chronologically but rather in 12 somewhat loosely defined thematic sections: "Early Travelers," "On the River," "The Classic Guides," and so forth. Some notable contributors include Henry David Thoreau, Charles Dickens, Sylvia Plath, and environmentalist Bill McKibben, although most are historical figures whose names will be unfamiliar to lay readers. For libraries in New England and specialized historic/environmental collections. Copyright 2002 Cahners Business Information.