NINE WAYS TO CROSS A RIVER; Midstream Reflections on Swimming and Getting There from Here Signed

Akiko Busch

ISBN 10: 1596910453 / ISBN 13: 9781596910454

Published by Bloomsbury, New York, 2007

About this Item

Near Fine in a Near Fine dust jacket.; Title page inscribed by Akiko Busch.; 224 pages.

Seller Inventory # 318857

Bibliographic Details

• Title: NINE WAYS TO CROSS A RIVER; Midstream Reflections on Swimming and Getting There from Here Signed
• Publisher: Bloomsbury, New York
• Publication Date: 2007
• Language: English
• ISBN 10: 1596910453
• ISBN 13: 9781596910454
• Binding: Hardcover
• Edition: 1st U.S.Edition; First Printing.

About this title

Synopsis

From Thoreau to Edward Abbey to Annie Dillard, American writers have looked at nature and described the sublime and transcendent. Now comes Akiko Busch, who finds multitudes of meaning in the practice of swimming across rivers. The notion that rivers divide us is old and venerated, but they also limn our identities and mark the passage of time; they anchor communities and connect one to another. And, in the hands of writer and swimmer Akiko Busch, they are living archives of human behavior and natural changes.

After a transformative swim across the Hudson just before September 11, Busch undertook to explore eight of America's great waterways: the Hudson (twice), the Delaware, the Connecticut, the Susquehanna, the Monongahela, the Mississippi, the Ohio, and the Current. She observes each river's goings-on and reflects on its history (human and natural) and possible futures. Some of the rivers have rebounded from past industrial misuse; others still struggle with pollution and waste. The swims are also opportunities to muse on the ordinary passages faced by most of us―the death of a parent, raising children, becoming older―and the ways in which the rhythms and patterns of the natural world can offer reassurance, ballast and inspiration. A deeply moving exploration of the themes of renewal and reclamation at midlife, Nine Ways to Cross a River is a book to be treasured and given to friends.

About the Author

Akiko Busch is the author of Geography of Home. She writes regularly about design and culture, and lives in the Hudson Valley with her husband and two sons.