Down the Colorado

Library Journal

Carrier spent a summer on assignment for the Denver Post traveling from the Colorado River's headwaters in the Rockies to its mouth in the Gulf of California. His intent was to understand the region by understanding its river, and the book is arranged in brief daily dispatches. We discover how much of the river is diverted along the way, how complex water rights are, and how important the river is to development of the region. The brevity, however, prohibits full development of these issues. Although more than a travelogue, these are quick sketches, not longer reflective pieces that might have explored more deeply the relationship between the river and its environment (as Dean Krakel did in Downriver: A Yellowstone Journey, LJ 4/1/87). Of regional interest.-- Roland Person, Southern Illinois Univ. Lib., Carbondale