 | Dry River: Stories of Life, Death, and Redemption on the Santa Cruz Subjects: Santa Cruz River Valley (Ariz. and Mexico) -- History Local; Santa Cruz River Valley (Ariz. and Mexico) -- Description and travel; Nature -- Effect of human beings on -- Santa Cruz River Valley (Ariz. and Mexico); Natural history -- Santa Cruz River Vall; Poet and writer Alison Deming once noted, "In the desert, one finds the way by tracing the aftermath of water . . . " Here, Ken Lamberton finds his way through a lifetime of exploring southern Arizona's Santa Cruz River. This river--dry, still, and silent one moment, a thundering torrent of mud the next--serves as a reflection of the desert around it: a hint of water on parched sand, a path to redemption across a thirsty landscape. With his latest book, Lamberton takes us on a trek across the land of three nations--the United States, Mexico, and the Tohono O'odham Nation--as he hikes the river's path from its source and introduces us to people who draw identity from the river--dedicated professionals, hardworking locals, and the author's own family. These people each have their own stories of the river and its effect on their lives, and their narratives add immeasurable richness and depth to Lamberton's own astute observations and picturesque descriptions. Unlike books that detail only the Santa Cruz's decline, Dry River offers a more balanced, at times even optimistic, view of the river that ignites hope for reclamation and offers a call to action rather than indulging in despair and resignation. At once a fascinating cultural history lesson and an important reminder that learning from the past can help us fix what we have damaged, Dry River is both a story about the amazing complexity of this troubled desert waterway and a celebration of one man's lifelong journey with the people and places touched by it. Ken Lamberton has written extensively about the desert Southwest, including Wilderness and Razor Wire , for which he won the 2002 John Burroughs Medal for outstanding nature writing, and Time of Grace: Thoughts on Nature, Family, and the Politics of Crime and Punishment , also published by the University of Arizona Press. He lives with his wife in an 1890s stone cottage near Bisbee, Arizona. |
