Written on Water

Publishers Weekly - Publisher's Weekly

"Choose a river. Any river... no particular theme, no set direction, certainly no political agenda. Write an essay in the direction the river takes you." Thus Mary Clearman Blew (Bone Deep in Landscape), professor of English and creative writing at the University of Idaho, Moscow, commissioned writing for the collection Written on Water: Essays on Idaho Rivers. Pieces by Claire Davis, Kim Barnes, Robert Wrigley, Joy Passanante and 15 others evince the authors' manifold romances with the Little Salmon, the Selway, the Lower Snake and other rivers that grace Idaho. ( Apr. 1) Copyright 2001 Cahners Business Information.

Library Journal

Idaho is famous, and infamous, for all the wrong reasons, from potatos, which do not represent the totality of the state's economy, to separationists, who reflect only the smallest of cultural minds at work. What Idaho should be famous for, as many fishermen know, is its rivers. In the North, narrow rivers crease the foothills of the Bitterroot Mountains, in the South they sustain the farms on the plains. Throughout, the culture and the landscape are inextricably tied to the rivers' physical beauty and well being. In this brief collection, Idaho writers describe their connections to favorite rivers and the "peculiar, abnormal, and freakish" water that forms them. The essays range from personal essays to reports on the impact of industry and development. Unfortunately, a few of the works suffer from sentimentality or simply feel incomplete, but a few gems such as Guy Hand's lovely "River People," about reconciling the loss of his parents and Lance Olsen's hilarious and snarling "Ignorance," a defense of Idaho culture make the collection worth the read. Recommended for large libraries collecting literature on the West and regional collections. Rebecca Miller, "Library Journal" Copyright 2001 Cahners Business Information.