A Story of Six Rivers: History, Culture and Ecology

Environmental and American historian Coates (Salmon) selected six notable world rivers to illlustrate vastly different types of rivers and demonstrate their power and impact on human lives: Central Europe's powerful and historically significant Danube; "Berlin's lifeblood", the Spree; the Po, "Italy's Nile"; northwest England's Mersey, with a huge watershed in a densely populated region; the Yukon, a colossal and wild river; and the Los Angeles, a "post-modern" river that might eventually be restored as "the city's heart and soul." For each river, Coates reviews centuries of natural as well as local history, changes over time in local ecology, and efforts for environmental recovery. He is thoroughly versed in the importance of rivers to cities and agriculture, recognizing man's own impact on those rivers: many have been "shackled and subdued" while others retained their unpredictability; "Some are heavily polluted and belong to the category of endangered waterways... Others have begun to recover from near-death experience." Coates's lengthy list of references demonstrates significant research, and illustrations throughout%E2%80%94including photographs, drawings, paintings, and maps%E2%80%94clarify the text. However, as informative as this volume is, it reads more as six individual stories, lacking cohesion and any overarching conclusion. (Apr.)