River Earth: A Personal Map

River Earth is a personal exploration of family and community in and around the rivers of the Pacific Northwest. In these poignant essays, John Pierce probes the lifelong impact of a teenage boy’s loss of a father, and how it led his own sons to a life on the river. He lifts the covers from the seeming tranquility of north Idaho’s woods to reveal the personal impact of a friend’s fear of racial violence. His mother’s heroic lingering death forces him to confront who he is--while in the midst of a relationship that had lain dormant. Nighttime visits by Johnny Cash, two-foot long fish that don’t exist, and a son who hears music in his head while wandering along Idaho’s Jeru Creek all enliven and enrich this moving yet humorous book. Love, anger, wonder, a sense of place, of family, and of community, all emerge in this collection of evocative autobiographical excursions.

John Pierce lives in Colorado Springs with his wife Ardith. He was raised amidst forests and rivers, in western Washington. He loves streams and rivers and their intermingled movement and stability. Pierce served as Dean of the College of Liberal Arts at Washington State University and is now Vice Chancellor of the University of Colorado at Colorado Springs. He is the author, co-author, or co-editor of more than a dozen scholarly books. This is his first book of personal essays.