What do you think?
Rate this book
Drifting into Darien: A Personal and Natural History of the Altamaha River
Janisse Ray was a babe in arms when a boat of her father’s construction cracked open and went down in the mighty Altamaha River. Tucked in a life preserver, she washed onto a sandbar as the craft sank from view. That first baptism began a lifelong relationship with a stunning and powerful river that almost nobody knows.
The Altamaha rises dark and mysterious in southeast Georgia. It is deep and wide bordered by swamps. Its corridor contains an extraordinary biodiversity, including many rare and endangered species, which led the Nature Conservancy to designate it as one of the world’s last great places.
The Altamaha is Ray’s river, and from childhood she dreamed of paddling its entire length to where it empties into the sea. Drifting into Darien begins with an account of finally making that journey, turning to meditations on the many ways we accept a world that contains both good and evil. With praise, biting satire, and hope, Ray contemplates transformation and attempts with every page to settle peacefully into the now.
Though commemorating a history that includes logging, Ray celebrates “a culture that sprang from the flatwoods, which required a judicious use of nature.” She looks in vain for an ivorybill woodpecker but is equally eager to see any of the imperiled species found in the river spiny mussel, American oystercatcher, Radford’s mint, Alabama milkvine. The book explores both the need and the possibilities for conservation of the river and the surrounding forests and wetlands. As in her groundbreaking Ecology of a Cracker Childhood , Ray writes an account of her beloved river that is both social history and natural history, understanding the two as inseparable, particularly in the rural corner of Georgia that she knows best. Ray goes looking for wisdom and finds a river.
The Altamaha rises dark and mysterious in southeast Georgia. It is deep and wide bordered by swamps. Its corridor contains an extraordinary biodiversity, including many rare and endangered species, which led the Nature Conservancy to designate it as one of the world’s last great places.
The Altamaha is Ray’s river, and from childhood she dreamed of paddling its entire length to where it empties into the sea. Drifting into Darien begins with an account of finally making that journey, turning to meditations on the many ways we accept a world that contains both good and evil. With praise, biting satire, and hope, Ray contemplates transformation and attempts with every page to settle peacefully into the now.
Though commemorating a history that includes logging, Ray celebrates “a culture that sprang from the flatwoods, which required a judicious use of nature.” She looks in vain for an ivorybill woodpecker but is equally eager to see any of the imperiled species found in the river spiny mussel, American oystercatcher, Radford’s mint, Alabama milkvine. The book explores both the need and the possibilities for conservation of the river and the surrounding forests and wetlands. As in her groundbreaking Ecology of a Cracker Childhood , Ray writes an account of her beloved river that is both social history and natural history, understanding the two as inseparable, particularly in the rural corner of Georgia that she knows best. Ray goes looking for wisdom and finds a river.
280 pages, Hardcover
First published September 15, 2011
About the author
Janisse Ray
44 books279 followersis an award-winning and beloved American writer. Her work encourages wild, place-centric, sustainable lives and often calls attention to heart-breaking degradations of the natural world.
She writes the popular Substack TRACKLESS WILD, tracklesswild.substack.com.
Her newsletter for writers is SPIRAL-BOUND, janisseray.substack.com.
She is a sought-after and highly praised teacher of writing. She leads both in-person and online writing workshops, including a summer memoir course online, WRITE YOUR OWN STORY.
You can find more information about workshops and courses at her website.
https://janisseray.com/product-catego...
Check out her book CRAFT & CURRENT: A MANUAL FOR MAGICAL WRITING.
Janisse has won an American Book Award, Pushcart Prize, Southern Bookseller Award, Southern Environmental Law Center Writing Award, Nautilus Award, and Eisenberg Award, among many others.
Her collection of essays, WILD SPECTACLE, won the Donald L. Jordan Prize for Literary Excellence.
Her books have been translated into Turkish, French, and Italian.
Janisse's first book, ECOLOGY OF A CRACKER CHILDHOOD, recounts her experiences growing up in a junkyard, the daughter of a poor, white, fundamentalist Christian family. The book interweaves family history and memoir with natural history—specifically, descriptions of the ecology of the vanishing longleaf pine forests that once blanketed the Southern coastal plains.
ECOLOGY was followed by many other books, mostly creative nonfiction--often nature writing-- as well as poetry and fiction.
She earned an MFA from the University of Montana, has received two honorary doctorates, and was inducted into the Georgia Writers Hall of Fame. She has been awarded the Lifetime Achievement Award by the Georgia Writer's Association.
She lives on an organic farm inland from Savannah, Georgia, where she enjoys wildflowers, dark chocolate, and the blues.
She writes the popular Substack TRACKLESS WILD, tracklesswild.substack.com.
Her newsletter for writers is SPIRAL-BOUND, janisseray.substack.com.
She is a sought-after and highly praised teacher of writing. She leads both in-person and online writing workshops, including a summer memoir course online, WRITE YOUR OWN STORY.
You can find more information about workshops and courses at her website.
https://janisseray.com/product-catego...
Check out her book CRAFT & CURRENT: A MANUAL FOR MAGICAL WRITING.
Janisse has won an American Book Award, Pushcart Prize, Southern Bookseller Award, Southern Environmental Law Center Writing Award, Nautilus Award, and Eisenberg Award, among many others.
Her collection of essays, WILD SPECTACLE, won the Donald L. Jordan Prize for Literary Excellence.
Her books have been translated into Turkish, French, and Italian.
Janisse's first book, ECOLOGY OF A CRACKER CHILDHOOD, recounts her experiences growing up in a junkyard, the daughter of a poor, white, fundamentalist Christian family. The book interweaves family history and memoir with natural history—specifically, descriptions of the ecology of the vanishing longleaf pine forests that once blanketed the Southern coastal plains.
ECOLOGY was followed by many other books, mostly creative nonfiction--often nature writing-- as well as poetry and fiction.
She earned an MFA from the University of Montana, has received two honorary doctorates, and was inducted into the Georgia Writers Hall of Fame. She has been awarded the Lifetime Achievement Award by the Georgia Writer's Association.
She lives on an organic farm inland from Savannah, Georgia, where she enjoys wildflowers, dark chocolate, and the blues.
Ratings & Reviews
Friends & Following
Create a free account to discover what your friends think of this book!
Community Reviews
Displaying 1 - 30 of 32 reviews
April 23, 2026
I have read many of this author’s books, followed her for years on Facebook and Instagram and been fortunate enough to hear her speak several times. She is a hero environmentalist and writer for the south GA rural land that she loves and where her family has lived for generations. She was born only a couple of miles from the beautiful and still free flowing Altamaha River and still lives close by. She knows the river and its surrounding land well; she was involved in early struggles to establish a Riverkeeper and protests against the paper mills and nuclear plant that degrade the river for wildlife and humans. And such wildlife — all sorts of wading birds, including wood storks, fish such as the Atlantic sturgeons, and beautiful plants and trees.
The book has several very different sections — it begins with a week long kayaking trip that she and her husband make with other river rats (including the co-author of a book I recently read about the Okefenokee Swamp). Then she revisits other memories of her times on the river, on its history and of the people who have worked to save it. She evokes its beauty very well. For me, a five star book, worth going back to.
The book has several very different sections — it begins with a week long kayaking trip that she and her husband make with other river rats (including the co-author of a book I recently read about the Okefenokee Swamp). Then she revisits other memories of her times on the river, on its history and of the people who have worked to save it. She evokes its beauty very well. For me, a five star book, worth going back to.
September 12, 2013
This book is about Janisse Ray and the Altamaha River, which she loves and wants to preserve. Her imagery is lovely and evocative—for example, on blackberries. (I have blackberries on my mind lately, since growing a small patch at home.) Here’s what she writes, having been thwarted at first on her blackberry mission by the residue of a recent forest fire:
“…In the center of the thicket, where the canes were sturdy and more than head-tall, the fire had not penetrated, and here the blackberries were succulent, black, an inch and a half long, hanging in gorgeous clumps. A cool, rainy spring had been good to the plants; they were redolent with fruit.
We ate our fill and picked enough for a pie, a smoky blackberry river pie.”
My blackberries are pale copies of those!
My favorite part of the book is the scary bullfrog chorus in the middle of the night, which was the selection she read at the 2011 Decatur (Georgia) Book Festival when the book was new.
The only gripe I have is this—I wanted more of Janisse in the book. I think she was holding back.
It may be just me. Other reviews were generally glowing. All gave four or five stars. So I may be out of line. Maybe I’m just dense. Take the following comments with a grain of salt. Yet, even though the reviews were all positive, I think more people should be reading this book. Why aren’t they?
The author wrote that her job as a writer is to present the facts. She’s talking about the way we are manipulated by language. People won’t speak out or can’t do so clearly, and we get a distorted picture. She would like to give us the real deal and say what she means. She does, of course. But she could do so more resoundingly if she gave us more than the facts. I know she could impact us more intensely because of the way she came across in her presentation. She packs a punch! The book, in comparison, is muted. Sometimes truth is more than just the facts. Give us your whole truth, Janisse!
In the book she criticizes herself for not being communal enough, not always being a group-experience sort of person who wants to share everything. She says that’s a weakness she’s tried to change. She calls her streak of individualism “dark.” But she is—herself. That’s what I wanted more of—to absorb all the facts and more, only refracted through the author’s truth and unified into a more organic and flowing whole through her story. (Finding out what happened with the frame-up perpetrated on her then-new husband at the beginning of the book wouldn’t hurt, either. I mean, we do find out, but in a sort of abstract way.)
Could politics and social views in and around her home base be a muting factor? Is she treading too carefully around something?
All I’m saying is don’t hold out on us! Tell us your truth that we need to know.
P.S. Thanks for the shout-out on p. 116 to the Florida research biologist Paul Moler—if I’m not mistaken, a high school classmate of mine.
Update, Sept. 12, 2013: The book has come out in paperback, and the local newspaper has done a feature, complete with pictures of author and river scenes. Nice!
“…In the center of the thicket, where the canes were sturdy and more than head-tall, the fire had not penetrated, and here the blackberries were succulent, black, an inch and a half long, hanging in gorgeous clumps. A cool, rainy spring had been good to the plants; they were redolent with fruit.
We ate our fill and picked enough for a pie, a smoky blackberry river pie.”
My blackberries are pale copies of those!
My favorite part of the book is the scary bullfrog chorus in the middle of the night, which was the selection she read at the 2011 Decatur (Georgia) Book Festival when the book was new.
The only gripe I have is this—I wanted more of Janisse in the book. I think she was holding back.
It may be just me. Other reviews were generally glowing. All gave four or five stars. So I may be out of line. Maybe I’m just dense. Take the following comments with a grain of salt. Yet, even though the reviews were all positive, I think more people should be reading this book. Why aren’t they?
The author wrote that her job as a writer is to present the facts. She’s talking about the way we are manipulated by language. People won’t speak out or can’t do so clearly, and we get a distorted picture. She would like to give us the real deal and say what she means. She does, of course. But she could do so more resoundingly if she gave us more than the facts. I know she could impact us more intensely because of the way she came across in her presentation. She packs a punch! The book, in comparison, is muted. Sometimes truth is more than just the facts. Give us your whole truth, Janisse!
In the book she criticizes herself for not being communal enough, not always being a group-experience sort of person who wants to share everything. She says that’s a weakness she’s tried to change. She calls her streak of individualism “dark.” But she is—herself. That’s what I wanted more of—to absorb all the facts and more, only refracted through the author’s truth and unified into a more organic and flowing whole through her story. (Finding out what happened with the frame-up perpetrated on her then-new husband at the beginning of the book wouldn’t hurt, either. I mean, we do find out, but in a sort of abstract way.)
Could politics and social views in and around her home base be a muting factor? Is she treading too carefully around something?
All I’m saying is don’t hold out on us! Tell us your truth that we need to know.
P.S. Thanks for the shout-out on p. 116 to the Florida research biologist Paul Moler—if I’m not mistaken, a high school classmate of mine.
Update, Sept. 12, 2013: The book has come out in paperback, and the local newspaper has done a feature, complete with pictures of author and river scenes. Nice!
January 28, 2014
Off to a great start - please set me adift on a river, any river.... And in the end, beautiful writing about a huge watershed that I've never explored but now will. Janisse is a fierce voice for conservation of the water and longleaf pine she loves in FL and in GA - her work and her writing are making a difference.
May 7, 2014
Janisse Ray is an activist and writer whom I admire tremendously. I think I have read all her books. The first was my favorite...Ecology of a Cracker childhood...They combine personal history with natural history in a unique style of narrative. She analyzes and describes like a scientist, but puts so much feeling into her writing that I think of her as someone I know.
August 27, 2015
Wow. In my top 10 of all time, and not just because I have a personal relationship with the Altamaha. Just incredible.
February 23, 2016
The Altamaha River is one of the most unspoiled rivers in America, and Janisse Ray has lived most of her life near its banks. As an infant she was baptized (accidentally) on her first river trip when her father’s homemade boat sunk. In this book, she sets out to explore the river with her husband and a group dedicated to preserving it. In the first half of the book tells the story of their trip down the river as she recalls its history and explaining its natural setting. The group feels a kinship with river men who built log rafts out of longleaf pines and floated them down the river in ages past. Along the way they pass Ragpoint, where raft men used to tie a rag onto a tree for good luck, a tradition that continues to this day. They float past some of the largest cypress left standing, trees that have been spared the logger’s saw. In addition to the narrative, the first part of the book contains a numbers of lists that include one of what they are carrying along with lists of birds seen and trees observed.
The second half of the book consists of a series of personal essays in which the author explores various aspects of the river. These essays include a night fishing trip with a politician and a guide, a trip to the Bartram Botanical Gardens in Philadelphia where she investigates a “lost†species that had been found along the river. And then there is a humorous story about a trip with botanist to an area within the river’s watershed and the language gap that existed. She produces a rant directed at the United States Forest Service for their “liberal†definition as to what constitutes a forest. She tells of threats to the river from the discharge of a paper mill, the nitrogen that runs from farmer’s fields, and the problems with clear-cutting. She makes a case that a river is only as healthy as the forest through which it flows.
These quotes come from the final chapter of her book:
What I needed was to watch the amber water sliding past the ivory sandbars under a high blue sky. I needed the peace of wildness.
We go to lay our burdens down, to refuel ourselves, to fill our eyes with beauty, to enter the unchanging, to experience metaphorical time. We go to be transformed. (211)
This is the third book I’ve read by Janisse Ray. My favorite is still the Ecology of a Cracker Childhood, in which she tells about growing up with the longleaf pines and issues a call for their protection. I, too, grew up under longleafs, a few hundred miles to the north and share her concern for these majestic trees. I also liked Ray's second book, Wild Card Quilt. This is a good book, but in my opinion it doesn't rise to the level of the other two books of hers I've read.
The second half of the book consists of a series of personal essays in which the author explores various aspects of the river. These essays include a night fishing trip with a politician and a guide, a trip to the Bartram Botanical Gardens in Philadelphia where she investigates a “lost†species that had been found along the river. And then there is a humorous story about a trip with botanist to an area within the river’s watershed and the language gap that existed. She produces a rant directed at the United States Forest Service for their “liberal†definition as to what constitutes a forest. She tells of threats to the river from the discharge of a paper mill, the nitrogen that runs from farmer’s fields, and the problems with clear-cutting. She makes a case that a river is only as healthy as the forest through which it flows.
These quotes come from the final chapter of her book:
What I needed was to watch the amber water sliding past the ivory sandbars under a high blue sky. I needed the peace of wildness.
We go to lay our burdens down, to refuel ourselves, to fill our eyes with beauty, to enter the unchanging, to experience metaphorical time. We go to be transformed. (211)
This is the third book I’ve read by Janisse Ray. My favorite is still the Ecology of a Cracker Childhood, in which she tells about growing up with the longleaf pines and issues a call for their protection. I, too, grew up under longleafs, a few hundred miles to the north and share her concern for these majestic trees. I also liked Ray's second book, Wild Card Quilt. This is a good book, but in my opinion it doesn't rise to the level of the other two books of hers I've read.
May 24, 2018
Although Janisse Ray is mostly known for her book Ecology of a Cracker Childhood , Drifting into Darian which was written over ten years later, shows a lot of growth and is a much more beautiful read in my opinion. The reviews on the back cover insist that every endangered ecosystem should have a spokeswoman as passionate as Janisse, and she certainly gave me an appreciation of "her" river. The essays in this collection are all woven together well, and while the language and tone isn't always consistent, the book is structured in a way that lets you slip into a river. Unlike a lot of other nature writers, Janisse's story is hard one - she's trying to call attention to a region that many have forgotten about, and so in a lot of cases her essays never find happy endings, or endings at all, which can be frustrating to those of us used to reading and writing fiction who want things to be all tied up at the end of 230ish pages. . But the collection does do what nature writers are meant to do - it calls attention to an area in need of saving. A great read for anyone who wants a good introduction to this imperiled and beautiful area of the South.
November 16, 2011
Janisse Ray's new book, Drifting into Darien, begins: "The Altamaha is wide and made of molasses." How can you not love a nature writer who is also a poet?
Drifting into Darien is Ray's love letter to this mighty river, deemed one of the "75 Last Great Places" by the Nature Conservancy. It's her personal account of swimming and paddling its dark waters; watching for the elusive (and perhaps extinct) ivory-billed woodpecker; searching for spiny mussels; spotting bobcat tracks and rattlesnakes; swatting mosquitoes and yellow flies; and ducking lightning strikes on a sandbar. She describes feasting on fat blackberries on the shoreline, the smell of marshland; and the soapy scent of industrial chemicals being illegally dumped into the current.
The book ventures into environmental activism as Ray demands the shut-down of a nuclear power plant, Plant Hatch, and cites cancer "clusters" along the river corridor. I read her words and felt their truth, but I also know that the U.S. must cut its dependence on fossil fuels, and that these are complex issues. The strength of the book, in my opinion, lies in its subtitle: it is indeed, a vivid and compelling "personal and natural history of the Altamaha River."
Drifting into Darien is Ray's love letter to this mighty river, deemed one of the "75 Last Great Places" by the Nature Conservancy. It's her personal account of swimming and paddling its dark waters; watching for the elusive (and perhaps extinct) ivory-billed woodpecker; searching for spiny mussels; spotting bobcat tracks and rattlesnakes; swatting mosquitoes and yellow flies; and ducking lightning strikes on a sandbar. She describes feasting on fat blackberries on the shoreline, the smell of marshland; and the soapy scent of industrial chemicals being illegally dumped into the current.
The book ventures into environmental activism as Ray demands the shut-down of a nuclear power plant, Plant Hatch, and cites cancer "clusters" along the river corridor. I read her words and felt their truth, but I also know that the U.S. must cut its dependence on fossil fuels, and that these are complex issues. The strength of the book, in my opinion, lies in its subtitle: it is indeed, a vivid and compelling "personal and natural history of the Altamaha River."
February 1, 2016
It always add an element of complexity to review a book by someone you know and respect, but here goes.
The meat of the book is about the Altamaha River and everything that surrounds, influences, or inhabits it: forests, people, plants, mussels, birds, the weather. All of this is excellent and first rate writing typical of Janisse Ray.
After the river is a diatribe against clear-cutting and the nuclear plant in which the usual beauty of her writing is obscured by her anger. I didn't like this part - not because of things she says, but because it wasn't the quality of writing that I expect from her.
But in the last chapters, her style returns and she more than makes up for what a few chapters lack.
I will stick with my 5-star rating, and I look forward to reading the Seed Underground.
The meat of the book is about the Altamaha River and everything that surrounds, influences, or inhabits it: forests, people, plants, mussels, birds, the weather. All of this is excellent and first rate writing typical of Janisse Ray.
After the river is a diatribe against clear-cutting and the nuclear plant in which the usual beauty of her writing is obscured by her anger. I didn't like this part - not because of things she says, but because it wasn't the quality of writing that I expect from her.
But in the last chapters, her style returns and she more than makes up for what a few chapters lack.
I will stick with my 5-star rating, and I look forward to reading the Seed Underground.
February 7, 2016
Drifting into Darien: A Personal and Natural History of the Altamaha River by Janisse Ray (University of Georgia Press 2011)(797.1224) is another fine book by Janisse Ray about her beloved South Georgia wilderness. She does an outstanding job evoking the wildness of the Altamaha river basin. Her stories about searching for (and finding) freshwater mussels (e.g. Altamaha arc mussel, Barrel floater, Georgia elephant ear, Altamaha slabshell, Variable spike, Altamaha lance, Altamaha spiny mussel, Altamaha pocketbook, Rayed pink fatmucket(!), Inflated floater, Savannah lilliput, and Eastern creekshell)(p.144) and fishing for flathead catfish made me want to roll up my pantslegs and get wet. I highly recommend this book to anyone with an interest in the natural history of the southeastern U.S. My rating: 7.5/10, finished 5/22/12.
January 22, 2015
Drifting into Darien is the 3rd book by Janisse Ray that I have read. The Altamaha River is the thread that holds this work together, mysterious, dark and wild. The 1st part of the book consists of an actual journey down the river and the 2nd part consists of related stories and essays. The 2nd part seemed disjointed at first, but soon the reader is pulled into the rhythm of that part also. She is an effective champion of the river, presenting facts and statistics, examining the effects of pollution on every aspect of the river, its flora and fauna, its tributaries, and the whole watershed area. She is perhaps an even more persuasive crusader when she expresses her joy in the natural environment, the waters she paddles, the mussels she digs, every bird, fish, insect, salamander, tree and bush observed. The love flows through from the pen to the paper.
December 22, 2013
Sometimes she raves too much but I don't know why it should bother me since I agree with her for the most part. However, when you read passages like the one below (and there are many), you know this is a good book and worth your time.
"I, then, pull against all the force of the outgoing tide, and of the gravity of the emptying river, and also the cloud-thick sky. And I bring back the entire sea in a fish, and the universe, and when the senator scoops it out of the night waters, it is a channel catfish possibly a hair bigger than his own, the first one. I never dreamed I could catch such a thing." Janisse Ray
"I, then, pull against all the force of the outgoing tide, and of the gravity of the emptying river, and also the cloud-thick sky. And I bring back the entire sea in a fish, and the universe, and when the senator scoops it out of the night waters, it is a channel catfish possibly a hair bigger than his own, the first one. I never dreamed I could catch such a thing." Janisse Ray
September 2, 2015
An excellent guide to drifting down the Altamaha River in South Georgia . A wonderful introduction on the biosphere which is contained in the longest undammed river in the US. A trip I would like to take in a Kayak.
February 8, 2012
rsy is brilliant as usual. a mixture of fact and memoir, this book draws you into the river at its best and worst, and makes you truly care about it.
March 14, 2012
A well written and enjoyable narrative of the author's trip and experiences on the Altamaha River, a relatively unspoiled river in Southeastern Georgia.
June 19, 2012
Janisse Ray is my hero. This is a beautiful book so far.
July 1, 2012
This is a beautiful and passionate account of a precious river. Very good writing in this book, if a few too many lists at times.
February 17, 2014
Janisse Ray writes wonderful stories about the natural environment. I also enjoyed this book although it's not as good as the Ecology of a Cracker Childhood. She sure can bring the woods alive.
July 10, 2015
Good local view of history and geography as well as the physical forces that shape our environment.
January 31, 2016
I wrote Ray personally and thanked her for this book, for her love and anger and joy and for the pictures she painted in my mind.
February 21, 2016
Altamaha is a significant river crossing South Georgia and ending up on the coast at various barrier islands. This is an interesting book on the ecology and history of the river.
September 1, 2023
Janice Ray,s enthusiasm and excitement in this adventure amongst the natural world of the Altamaha river in Georgia is truly palpable. She is an intriguing character and full of knowledge and wisdom .
The first part of the book is about a kayak trip amongst friends down the river. Her mind is complex and she changes subject at the drop of a hat which keeps you on your toes.
I enjoyed her writing more in the second part of the book which are essays on environmental subjects concerning this Georgian river and its surrounding fauna. She is passionate about ecological conservation in a USA culture that is not up to speed with climate change. Many of the issues she relates are very frightening and should be taken note of.
The writing and descriptions of the natural world are beautiful especially in the second part of the book and would be enjoyed by anyone with an interest in the natural world. It is also a good historic memoir of the Altamaha river which I now know and love as a result. It inspires you to cherish your own patch of country wherever you live. Don’t go there as you will cause even more climate change, stay at home and look after your own back yard.
The first part of the book is about a kayak trip amongst friends down the river. Her mind is complex and she changes subject at the drop of a hat which keeps you on your toes.
I enjoyed her writing more in the second part of the book which are essays on environmental subjects concerning this Georgian river and its surrounding fauna. She is passionate about ecological conservation in a USA culture that is not up to speed with climate change. Many of the issues she relates are very frightening and should be taken note of.
The writing and descriptions of the natural world are beautiful especially in the second part of the book and would be enjoyed by anyone with an interest in the natural world. It is also a good historic memoir of the Altamaha river which I now know and love as a result. It inspires you to cherish your own patch of country wherever you live. Don’t go there as you will cause even more climate change, stay at home and look after your own back yard.
April 4, 2026
Really good, and for me, a bit of a change of pace. Instead of some history book this work is concerned about the Altamaha River in South East Georgia. It’s a beautiful river, not too far from where I live, and is an area I go to frequently to do Colonial Reenacting at Darian Ga. I see Bald Eagles, and lots of other cool river/sea birds and animals.
The author is a biologist and is writing to showcase how beautiful yet threatened this river is. Modern development, clear-cutting, nuclear power plants, paper mills and over development are of course threatening this area, but, she is on a crusade to slow down the destruction. It’s still a very wild area, hopefully it won’t disappear in our lifetimes, but who knows….
If you’re offended by environmental causes this isn’t this book for you. But, I am more of an environmentalist than not, so, this is a book for me.
The author is a biologist and is writing to showcase how beautiful yet threatened this river is. Modern development, clear-cutting, nuclear power plants, paper mills and over development are of course threatening this area, but, she is on a crusade to slow down the destruction. It’s still a very wild area, hopefully it won’t disappear in our lifetimes, but who knows….
If you’re offended by environmental causes this isn’t this book for you. But, I am more of an environmentalist than not, so, this is a book for me.
September 26, 2025
This is an absolutely beautiful book--Ray at her best. I got a bit bogged down in the seeds book because of the technical information and the emphasis on statistics and facts. There's plenty of facts in this book, but they are all framed narratively in Ray's gorgeous, poetic diction (which IDK, there's plenty of narrative in the seeds book, too, but it just hit me differently--maybe because the narratives there are instructive/didactic, illustrative of the facts rather than the love letter to the river of this book).
June 5, 2025
A love letter to Southeast Georgia and the Altamaha River basin including Darien GA, our home away from home and an area we have come to love dearly. The importance of honoring and preserving it. “Be the keeper of whatever place you live.” Something to strive for.
August 16, 2021
A must read for anyone interested in coastal Georgia and its inextricable link to the communities up the rivers.
January 22, 2022
i felt like i read this book before.. i had to finish early because, someone at the library was waiting for it.
February 14, 2022
I really enjoyed this book, following along on a canoe trip and memories of the author. And learning about the river and South Georgia.
June 22, 2022
This book is an in depth look at the Altamaha watershed, and an enjoyable read. The first 1/2 is the story of a float trip on the river.
August 19, 2023
Cried my way through this one haha. She writes nature like no other
Displaying 1 - 30 of 32 reviews