In the summer of 1991
Michael Burke, an experienced river guide, embarks on a three-week
journey down a series of remote rivers in British Columbia. Leaving
behind his pregnant wife, he embraces the perils of a voyage with a
companion he barely knows in a raft that may not weather the trip. He
attempts to reconcile the shifting fates of his life—his
transition from river guide to husband, father, and academic. At the
same time, he hopes to explore his connection to a distant relative,
Sid Barrington, who was a champion "swiftwater pilot of the North" in
the late 19th and early 20th centuries.
Unlike most river-running books that often
describe waterways in the lower forty-eight states, The Same River Twice
introduces readers to rough, austere, and unfamiliar rivers in the
northern wilderness. Burke has an intimate understanding of these
remote, free-flowing rivers. He effectively captures the thrill of
moving water, the spirit of rivers and river canyons, and the life of
river guides. This insightful memoir brings readers into a confluence
of rivers, where past and present merge, revealing the power of
wilderness and the truth about changing course.
|
Same River Twice
A
Boatman's Journey Home
by
Michael D. Burke
University
of Arizona Press,
2006
Order
a copy.
|
