River-Horse: A Voyage Across America

By William Least Heat-Moon

Book Overview

The author of Blue Highways and PrairyErth "takes us on a lifetime voyage full of imagery, insight and appreciation." --Cleveland Plain DealerIn his most ambitious journey ever, William Least... This description may be from another edition of this product.

• Format: Hardcover
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0395636264
• ISBN13: 9780395636268
• Release Date: January 1999
• Publisher: Houghton Mifflin
• Length: 506 Pages
• Weight: 1.90 lbs.
• Dimensions: 9.8" x 1.8" x 6.5"

Customer Reviews

Over written, self indulgent, given to editorializing, and in need of an editor

Having read the author's work, "Blue Highways" some years ago I felt that I knew what I was getting into with the author. I was wrong. What started off as an excellent concept for a book, a waterborne journey across the breadth of the United States, seemed to devolve into a Hemingway-esque swagger of drinking from bar to bar while stopped in various marinas, just long enough to pick up a few lines of conversation that would belittle the local citizenry. Throw in a few too many opinionated digs on religion, politics and the environment and, well, you get the idea. I finished River Horse but would rather go back and reread Joyce's Ulysses as I dare say it would be less of a challenge

Great book

Well written, interesting read

Great Arm-Chair Adventure

"River Horse, The Logbook of a Boat Across America" by William Least Heat-Moon. 1995. MA. Houghton Mifflin Co. 506 pp Exploration seems to be coded into human DNA, some more than others. Most of us only able to experience exciting travel adventures by reading about the journeys of others who are fortunate enough to make exploring a way of life. William Least Heat-Moon is just such a man and his book `River Horse" is an excellent adventure that allows the reader to imagine being along for the over 5,000 mile ride on "Nikawa" (Osage "Ni" is River and "Kawa" is horse), a 22 foot C-Dory with no kitchen or head, across America from the Hudson Bay to the Pacific Ocean by way of a dozen beautiful rivers and a couple of awesome lakes, from New York to the State of Washington. William Least Heat-Moon author of the New York Times best-seller "Blue Highways" has gone from the highways to the waterways with his travelogue "River Horse, The Logbook of a Boat Across America". "Nikawa" begins her journey from a dock in Newark Bay on Earth Day, April 22, 1995, with a proper send off from the mayor of Elizabeth, New Jersey. Just ten minutes out and the tiny boat is nearly capped-sized in the wake of a freighter. Off to a shaky start, but supported or rather scolded by his first mate Pilotis, who is really the only one with actual boating experience, Heat-Moon bravely carries on undaunted, as only one ignorant of his fate can be, looking for traces of a vanishing America. As his journey takes him through New York, past the rusted relics of factories along the various rivers wasting away he reflects on the environmental impact of society upon the rivers. As he pounds across Lake Erie with 7-foot swells, he reflects on the wisdom of the journey. As he floats gently down the Allegheny, he appreciates his fortune. And on his journey goes full of highs and lows, pleasure and pain. Nothing is sugar coated and at times there are a few off-color anecdotes, but that is to be expected from sailors. What is not expected, but pleasantly surprising, is that William Least Heat-Moon is also a very literary man. His chapters are full of literary references and various quotes from great literary works. His descriptions are vivid and at times almost poetic. He has been influenced by John Steinbeck and his work "Travels with Charley" and Mark Twain with his adventures on the Mighty Mississippi River. Philosopher and writer, the book is filled with reflections on the progress of man and whether it be progress or not. As in "Blue Highways", Heat-Moon is still looking "for an America stripped of the commercial fog and tabloid mentality that often masks the great strengths of her people". Some may find offence with his sometimes blunt appraisal of the human race, but it isn't telling us anything we don't already know, he is just a little more upfront about it than most. In addition to Heat-Moon's well-written philosophical narrative, each "waterway" section of the

A must for the "heart of america" junkie.

As one who loves to read/hear of travels thru the heart of this great country, I found River-Horse to be a great "vacation book." As soon as I saw it , I had to have it to read on my week at the beach. I was not disappointed. Least Heat-Moon rewards the reader with great sentences of descriptive musings of his travels by water from coast-to-coast. Those who have read Blue Highways won't be disappointed.

another major success; classic Heatmoon

_River Horse_ is a treatment of a journey across the USA. By boat. With minimal portage. Got to be pretty determined to pull such a thing off.To our good fortune, Heatmoon is a determined man. In this book he does the thing that no other does as well: creative descriptiveness. That expression sounds as though I'm suggesting he makes stuff up; on the contrary, I tend to believe just about every word he says. What it means is that he uses the cleverest ways I've ever seen to paint the picture. Heatmoon is excellent with the language, but does not limit himself to it. Most books include too many photos; the way Heatmoon writes, fewer is better, because he tends to reduce the need for them. He'll draw diagrams, use metaphors, just about anything you weren't expecting.He can also be counted upon for a creative and interesting structure to his work, and he does so here, breaking the journey up into perhaps twelve sections of travel, each with a photograph. The interplay between characters is interesting and amusing, and thus his book includes not just the rivers but the river people.Nothing Heatmoon does is designed for those with minimal attention spans, and _River Horse_ is no exception. However, everything he does is designed for anyone who wants a view of the subject that is at once wide-angle and high-magnification. Highly recommended.