Originally published in 1937 as part of the Rivers of America series, this book has become a classic of Maine literature. And only Robert P. Tristram Coffin could have woven this story of the majestic Kennebec and the people who lived beside it, from the Popham Plantation in the early 1600s to the 1930s. His intimate knowledge of the Maine landscape, his love for ships and the men who sailed them, and his warm feeling for the people who farmed the Kennebec's banks enrich every page.

Book by Matschat, Cecile H.

The Brandywine River winds from Southeastern Pennsylvania into Delaware along a rolling, agricultural plane. Henry Seidel Canby was born along its banks into a family that has lived in the region for generations. His personal affection for the river is woven into this charming history of events that make the Brandywine one of America's most important small rivers. He explains how the Swedes built the first log cabins in America at the mouth of the Brandywine, why William Penn's Quakers later came here, that prairie schooners were built to haul grain to local flour mills, and how the duPont family started a chemical empire in these narrow gorges. The Battle of the Brandywine was a major confrontation in America's war for independence.

A classic account of the Wisconsin River's early exploration by French traders and Jesuit priests through the 1940s. Mixing folklore and legend, Derleth tells of the Winnebago, Sauk, and Fox peoples; of lumberjacks, farmers, miners, and preachers; of ordinary folks and famous figures such as the Ringling Brothers, Chief Blackhawk, Frank Lloyd Wright, and Zona Gale.

Wilma Dykeman spent six months in the early 1950's, driving with her husband through the mountains of western North Carolina and eastern Tennessee to research this book. She spoke with local farmers and loggers, visited libraries and newspaper offices, and read numerous accounts of the history of the French Broad River bioregion. The result is a very solid history of the region, spiced with plenty of local color. Although her prose is at times dry, and although her attempts to include quotations and jokes from local people sometimes come off as awkward, her fidelity to the people who are the subjects of her book is unwavering, and she makes numerous insights about the region's history and future which remain true today. The chapter, "Who Killed the French Broad?" is particularly prophetic; no doubt Ms. Dykeman must be happy in her Newport, Tennessee, home to see that the river runs cleaner than it did back in 1955, when the book was first published. A classy book by a classy woman.