Rivers of the World: A Social, Geographical, and Environmental Sourcebook

By James R. Penn

Book Overview

Rivers of the World, vividly written and meticulously researched, is a rich and thorough treatment of some 200 of the world's rivers.

In this comprehensive treatment of the major rivers of the world, author James R. Penn's purpose is not just to feature geographic data, but to tell a story of historical drama, poetic significance, and cultural relationships. The book shows glimpses of Chairman Mao boosting his image by swimming in the Yangtze; Indian middlemen residing on both sides of the Columbia River exacting tolls from travelers like Lewis and Clark; and, near the Dordogne in southwest France, Paleolithic cave art, paintings, and designs in rock shelters and subterranean caverns, which are textbook examples of early human creativity and artistic impulse.

In nearly 200 entries ranging from a few paragraphs to several pages, Rivers of the World covers all of the great rivers of the world including the Nile, Niger, Amazon, and Mississippi, as well as smaller waterways that illustrate important themes or represent trends. The book includes bibliographies for each river.

• Format: Hardcover
• Language: English
• ISBN: 1576070425
• ISBN13: 9781576070420
• Release Date: December 2001
• Publisher: ABC-CLIO, LLC
• Length: 384 Pages
• Weight: 1.81 lbs.
• Dimensions: 1.1" x 7.3" x 10.3"
• Age Range: 12 years and up
• Grade Range: Grade 7 and higher

Customer Reviews

Fabulous-a social, geographical, and environmental sourcebook..

I just love it when I get a thought in my head that seems totally irrelevent to what I am doing at the time. I am walking around a grocery store thinking about buying some food for dinner when "rivers" pop into my head. After the store I go on down to the library and check out this wonderful book on, "Rivers of the World." It is totally awesome and I learned magnificant information about where mountaintop headwaters flush themselves into distant deltas, rivers run theier courses shaping the commercial, geographical, and cultural character of nations. This book is vividly written and meticulously researched (I love when an author gives it their all in research) It is a rich and thorough treatment of nearly 200 of the world's rivers. In this book you will find rivers both tranquil and turbulent, renowned and obscure-but each remarkable or historically significant in its own right. In addition to treating the historical and often literary significance of each river, entries address environmental issues and threats to our planet's waterways, floods, pollution, river management,and dam construction and destruction. Each entry is prefaced with basic facts, including river source, outlet, major tributaries, and length, and concludes with suggestions for further reading. LOVED IT!!