When the author became the "adoptive father" of a Florida manatee named Brutus, he took his family to meet the 2,000-pound marine mammal at its home in the warm springs of the Everglades. As his interest in the species increased, it led to an overwhelming concern for the ecology and the future prospects of the Everglades in general. Carter (Westward Whoa
), a gifted teller of nature tales with a flair for the humorous and offbeat, decided to tour this vast network of connecting rivers via canoe. The journey includes encounters with environmentalists, naturalists, sugar farmers, politicians and swamp folk. Of course the flora, fauna and natural history of this great river of grass is scrutinized in detail; whether describing the sadness of an early morning death watch over the corpse of a recently killed manatee or detailing the struggles of hiking and hacking through a mangrove thicket with insects and myriad swamp creatures (including cottonmouths and gators) crawling amid the muck, Carter manages to see the comedic light in all things including these downright murky situations. While the author's environmentalist credentials and interests are apparent from the beginning, he is no simplistic knee-jerk reformer blind to the multiplicity of competing factors that make ecological issues so pesky. As in all too many environmentally sensitive areas, the Everglades has suffered from both too little and too much public attention. In this engaging read, the author details some of the competing interests of developers and conservationists, which have made for a political jumble of mixed good and venal intentions leading to some successful and also poor results. Agent, Sally Wofford Girand.
(July)
