River Notes: A Natural and Human History of the Colorado
Many have followed the lead of pioneering river boatman John Wesley Powell in writing about their journeys on the Colorado River. But globe-circling ethnographer and best-selling writer Davis (One River, 1996; Into the Silence, 2011) brings unique expertise and a penetrating perspective to his enlightening expedition chronicle. A former river guide, Davis experiences the river’s raw power when he pilots a raft through daunting rapids. A passionate scholar, he is equally dramatic in recounting his travels through the records of the region’s volatile geologic past and rich history of diverse societies and cultural collisions. Native American tribes share the belief that “rivers are sacred lifelines.” Mormons were the first, “in defiance of all logic,” to attempt to tame the river. The Colorado, now harnessed with 25 dams, precariously supports 30 million people, from Las Vegas to Los Angeles. With hard facts and river adventures rendered in gorgeous prose, Davis exposes the vulnerability of the Colorado in our time of drought and global warming in the hope that his findings will inspire the restoration and protection of this crucial river. --Donna Seaman