Potomac Fever: Reflections on the Nation’s River

by Charlotte Taylor Fryar

An impassioned meditation on American identity and its ebb and flow through the Capital’s great waterway

As she walks the length of the Potomac River, clambering up its banks and sounding its depths, Charlotte Taylor Fryar examines the geography and ecology of Washington, D.C. with all manner of flora and fauna as her witness. The ecological traces of human inhabitancy provide her with imaginative access into America’s past, for her true subject is the origin of our splintered nation and racially divided capital.

From the gentrified neighborhood of Shaw to George Washington’s slave labor camp at Mount Vernon, Potomac Fever maps the troubled histories of the United States by leading us along the less-trafficked trails and side streets of our capital city, steeped in the legacy of white supremacy and colonialism. In the end, Fryar offers hope for how “we might grow a society guided by the ethics and values of the places we live.”

A compelling synthesis of historical, environmental, and personal narrative, Potomac Fever exposes the roots of our national myths, awash in the waters of America’s renowned river.

Genres: Nonfiction, History, Nature, Dc Comics, Cities, Environment

272 pages, Paperback

Published March 11, 2025

Reviews

[Izy Carney · Rating 2 out of 5]

This is going to be a rather scathing review, but first let me say what I liked about the book.

I bought this book to begin with because of the chapter on the Tiber, and it did not disappoint. It was beautifully written and I loved the parallels between the hidden creek and Home Rule. I love the semi-erotic way Fryar writes about the Potomac. It's clear she loves this river so so much, and that is very compelling to read. I appreciate the overall angle of the book- tying dc history to its environment. That is an important contribution often missing from history conversations.

OK. The rest of this critique comes from my perspective as someone who has worked in the DC history field for the last five years.

1. This book reeks of white guilt. At every turn, Fryar feels a compulsion to hammer in the fact that she is a white outsider who will therefore never belong in the city. Her takes are all unnuanced -- for instance, though she works hard to assert that she is NOT one of the Bad Gentrifiers, she gives very little space to the fact that gentrification is policy-based, and in DC, a policy pushed by the federal government after the financial crisis in the 90s. She also frames gentrification through aesthetics. If she had actually talked to longtime DC residents, she would have learned that there are many many feelings around the large, ugly apartment buildings that pop up around the city. The issue for many people is more one of access and affordability than there being bikelanes and boba shops. Throughout the book, Fryar comes off as afraid of asserting nuance because of her whiteness which made for a difficult read.

She mentions the gentrification of Blagden Alley and snears at the "instagramable murals" throughout the alley. But, again, if she had done ANY REAL RESEARCH into it, she would quickly discover that these are a part of the DC Alley Museum, created by Bill Warrel, a DC native who co-founded the 9:30 Club, d.c. space, and has dedicated his entire life to uplifiting jazz in DC. I wonder what he would have to say about Fryar's assertion of his motives in creating a free outdoor museum for local artists.

2. The fact Fryar asserts herself as a historian is cause for disappointment. This is an extremely uncritical piece of historical work. Her sources are laughably flimsy--largely pulling from the DCist and a couple academic journals per chapter. Most of her chapters paraphrase other people's work without any real new insight. The most important thing you learn in writing history is to FOLLOW THE SOURCES!! You should not regurgitate anything from a published work if you can't track down its source. You ESPECIALLY should not position things as fact if there are not sources to back it up.

Fryar makes this mistake many, many times and in ways that are not just naive but harmful. I'll give the most egregious example. In her chapter on the Anacostia, she largely pulls from three other published works, all of which I have read as part of my history thesis. One of them is River of Redemption by Krista Schlyer (a great book!). Fryar, sourcing only from Schyler's book, makes the claim that the earliest recorded environmental justice action happened at Kenilworth, when a group of 25 people blocked the entrance to the dump. She makes the absurd claim that this inspired the people of Warren County, NC t0 do the same in 1982, the actual starting event of the environmental justice movement. To assert such a claim based on ONE account is unproductive and unhelpful. I read Schyler's book while writing my thesis and recall finding her source for this claim flimsy and hard to track down. I spent hours trying to find any mention of this protest in newspapers across the DMV. The only thing I could find was one very brief anecdotal story. I emailed her asking for her source, and because of an international trip she was on, never got a response. This is not to say Schyler's book makes the same mistakes as Fryar. The fact Fryar trusted one source merely because it fit her narrative is a sign of weak research. I would LOVE for Fryar to prove how the people of Warren County heard about this undocumented protest 20 years prior to their own.

In the very short Notes section at the end of this book, I actually cannot find a single source from a local DC archive. No oral histories, nothing from the People's Archive. At one point, she laments that the Library of Congress has so few photo collections of Black Washingtonians. WELL MAYBE THAT IS NOT WHERE THEY WOULD BE. It's incredible to me that she makes so many claims about how disgusted she is by the federal government's oversight of the city but seems to do so little work to actually learn from DC residents themselves (and no, the DCist does not count).

Also, she claims that coyotes got pushed out of the DC region along with cougars and wolves during the colonization of the area... Well, again, had she followed more than one source, she would have learned that coyotes are native originally to the west coast and were not first seen in DC until 2004...sloppy sloppy sloppy

3. A common flaw of personal essays, Fryar reimagines memories to fit her present narrative. "On my way back to the house I was renting in Virginia, I crossed the Potomac, a horrible ease sliding through me as I returned to democratically represented ground." I'm sorry but that did not happen.

"Despite its proximity to the Capitol and the Supreme Court, the Anacostia is perhaps the most disregarded waterway in and around the capital." This line actually made me laugh out loud.

On Jan. 6th: 'We own you now,' a threat I first heard on CNN while texting with friend who lived in Capitol Hill to make sure they were alive and safe." Alive and safe.... ummmm.

"Sometimes I forget where I live--and then I remember that because I live in Washington DC, I am not a citizen, but a colonized subject." Wait... don't you live in Glen Echo, Maryland??? huh

4. The last thing I'll say is that Fryar spends a lot of time feeling sorry for herself about being white and an outsider to the city, but throwing dinner parties and taking walks on the river seem to be the extent of her 'community building' (at least what she includes) in DC. It doesn't actually seem like she tries to engage in the city or its issues in a real way. She has plenty to complain about, plenty of other Bad Gentrifiers and the government to blame, but never once mentions mutual aid or the incredible organizing going on in DC now. Even when talking about environmental justice, she never mentions EmpowerDC, the largest local organization leading that effort. There are such glaringly obvious oversights in Fryar's narrative that I can't help but distrust her claims of really loving this city. The real way to feel like you 'belong' is to engage in the struggle of the place you live, not to go around throwing accusations and assumptions.

Alright that's the end of my rant. I was really excited about this book but ultimately was very, very disappointed.

[Miranda · Rating 5 out of 5]

A beautiful meditation on belonging, while also being a social, political, and ecological history of Washington DC and its surrounding lands. This book is really gorgeous and should be required reading for anyone who calls the Potomac river region home (and really anyone living in America?). I loved it so much.

[Lydia G · Rating 4 out of 5]

The beginning gets bogged down with Fryar’s need to center her own personal white guilt, but this book grew on me. Imagine my delight at seeing that there were chapters called “Honeysuckle,” “Swimming,” and “Pawpaws” back to back! These were also my favorite chapters. Honeysuckle because of its focus on invasive/alien species, which I found a bit ironic because Fryar seems to believe in invasives’ right to belong to a new place but not her own. Swimming because I learned so much about the history of swimming in D.C. and found the discussion of drained-pool politics to be really enlightening. And pawpaws—well, it’s pawpaws!!! I also am obsessed with pawpaws even though I think they’re disgusting. The species loneliness concept was something I’d not really thought about either, although it probably wouldn’t make me throw up.

[Bethany Borgia · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is exactly the book I have been looking for in my search to read and learn about Washington D.C. Charlotte Taylor Fryar is a historian and a naturalist and she writes about the natural history of D.C and it’s very human and very complicated past with such elegance and thoughtfulness. Really glad I picked this book up.

[Chelsea Cirruzzo · Rating 4 out of 5]

Feeling a lot of love and anger for and about D.C., its past, present and future thanks to this insightful read. It was a bit unlike anything I’ve read so it took me a bit to get into it but I’m glad I stuck with it. It’s inspired me to connect more with the natural world around D.C., starting with its waterways.

[BooksAndMinerals · Rating 5 out of 5]

Potomac Fever combines environmental racism, ecology, and political and social history. I was overall captivated by the storytelling format of the book, told in several essays. I thoroughly enjoyed this book, especially the chapter on spring ephermals!! I learned quite a lot, including how the Potomac River is literally a racial and class division, plus all other natural environments used to facilitate white supremacy and racism in D.C.

"... I cannot forget that the Potomac is very much the Nation's River, the waterway that reflects our country's history of white violence, colonial rule, and capitalism."

The chapter on climate change (flooding) particularly hit home. I resonated with the theme that we are not only witnessing the previous devastation but the upcoming devastation due to the climate change, and yet we still may have time to act.

[Emma Hersom · Rating 5 out of 5]

a beautifully written exploration of the geography and ecology of DC, mapping the troubled histories and current lived realities of environmental racism, climate change, gentrification, and the legacies of white supremacy and colonialism throughout the DMV, its neighborhoods, waterways, and beyond.

one of many extremely powerful excerpts from the book: “washingtonians rarely say out loud that we live under federal colonization. it sounds histrionic and ahistorical—even ungrateful; we live, after all, in the nation’s capital, the beating heart of American democracy. but colony is the only word that correctly describes the political condition of our city. what other term should we use to describe being forced to surrender our sovereignty to people from distant places, depending on how an election turns out? is there another word that describes a place where a white-majority nation maintains a stranglehold of power over a Black-majority city? in what other place but a colony would residents be reminded to be thankful for their proximity to political power, while simultaneously being told that they cannot hold it themselves?” (208)

[Chris Scott · Rating 4 out of 5]

3.5 stars but I'm rounding up out of respect for how much work the author clearly put into "Potomac Fever." I'm glad I read this, and I learned a lot. Charlotte Taylor Fryar acknowledges her identity as a white (relative) newcomer to the DC area early on, which is appropriate, but this quickly becomes a kind of preoccupation with each page and one can't shake the conflicted feelings she must have been wrestling with when she approached this work. I loved all the nature writing here, and tying DC's ecology with its socio-political history is clever and illuminating, but many times reading this I wanted the author to just clear her throat and write about her extensive knowledge of the region without so much hand-wringing and equivocation, which often came across less as introspection and more like defensive and cyclical base-covering. That being said, I would recommend this to most Washingtonians, and I look forward to reading what the author puts out next.

[Anika Fenn Gilman · Rating 4 out of 5]

I learned a lot from this book. And I appreciated the overall structure (how the chapters were separated). Although I felt like something was missing? Like maybe by the author inherently being white the points she was trying to make were constantly undermined by that? Which she totally acknowledges so it’s nothing against her it was just an unintentional effect

[Eric · Rating 4 out of 5]

Fryar blends personal anecdotes, political history of DC, and ecological history of the Potomac in each chapter of this very readable nonfiction piece.
Overall, it was very interesting and I learned a lot! Only taking a point off because there was one idea that I thought was not fully backed up in science (the implication from the chapter “Honeysuckle” that the distinction between invasive and non-invasive species is purely due to xenophobia).

[Abby Johnson · Rating 3 out of 5]

Maybe 3.5, parts of it were super interesting but i really had to force myself to keep reading it

[Russell Bateman-Buckley · Rating 5 out of 5]

4.5 / 5 - earnest and honest. great mix of ecology and history. reads at times like woke Carrie Bradshaw-- meant with affection for both Sex and The City and progressive politics. the Potomac is Big. (the author wants to have sex with the river.)

[Kristi · Rating 2 out of 5]

There are sections of this book that are wonderful, but it took me months to finish because it was also very meandering and repetitive and I struggled to stay engaged more than a couple pages at a time.

[Jenny · Rating 4 out of 5]

I was tempted to give this a 3, but I’m going to give it a 4 because it was a beautiful book. I really like the author’s writing, although sometimes it felt overwritten, even florid. While I understand these essays essentially were meditations on finding a sense of place in the D.C. area, revolving around the Potomac River, I also felt the author was stretching when she tried to tie many of her essays to white guilt/colonialism/past racism in D.C. That being said, I really did like the subjects covered in the essays and felt it was a worthwhile read. I’ve lived in the area before so I was familiar with the setting, which helped as I read.

[Claire Q · Rating 4 out of 5]

Rounded up from 3.5 stars - I've lived in the DMV most of my life, and I still feel like I learned something from this.

[Bhavna Sivasubramanian · Rating 4 out of 5]

Learned a lot about the history and planning of DC, and the implications of racism and segregation on the entire landscape. Would have appreciated a clearer throughline (aside from the Potomac River) and maps and images for context.

Some quotes that stuck out to me:
◦ Pg. 36 - these forks and their own branches also separate the rich from the poor, people with power from those they subjugate
◦ Pg. 38 - the rivers geography and ecology are the terrain and living material that have made the nations history, rooted in white supremacy, colonialism, capitalism, and land depredation
◦ Potomac River as a place of mutual belonging, foundation of interdependence
◦ Pg. 47 - white Americans demand spatial dominance, assuming all spaces that read to us natural or wild should be ours to access, without constraint or question
◦ Pg. 57 - rock creek park remains one of the most fixed racial boundaries in the city
◦ Pg. 58 - how do I make sure my love for the world - its people, its rivers, its eagles - is not used to exclude and destroy?
◦ Pg. 73 - the idea that the Potomac was the midpoint of the nation had always been a convenient geographical lie, used to extend the power of southern enslavers in the creation of the United States and its capital; a hard line between the illusion of freedom represented by the capital and the rest of the vast slave society that surrounded it
◦ Pg. 76 - the conflict of the biodiverse landscape of the Potomac with the nation’s capital was not a geographical coincidence, but one inevitable outcome of a plan rooted in brutal violence
◦ Pg. 91 - white people have learned to see themselves as individuals distinct from cultural movements, as people who just want walkable, diverse neighborhoods with beer gardens, instead of seeing themselves as the producers and proliferators of black displacement
◦ Pg. 97 - but can we ever be accountable enough to one another to build a culture of belonging to this and every place together, or will our own desperate hunger to belong keep us apart and lead to our eventual destruction?
◦ Pg. 97 - reciprocity builds accountability, accountability promotes care, care engenders community and community can make a home
◦ Pg. 106 - the Kenilworth dump was the worst source of air pollution in the district, a truth that residents east of the river carried in their bodies
◦ Pg. 113 - a focus on the resilience of people forced to live in degraded environments supports further degradation in its refusal to address the root cause of so many environmental problems
◦ Pg. 127 - it seemed to me that the blame assigned to these species had somehow been shifted over time from human settlers into the plants themselves
◦ Pg. 128 - the relationship between the nationalization of nature and how one becomes naturalized is rooted in the history of how white Americans have taken ownership of and control over land
◦ Pg. 145 - through the lens of white photographers, Black Washingtonians are less subjects of pleasure than objects tagged for removal
◦ Pg. 152 - as with the tidal basin bathing pool, the issue of integrated swimming was solved by closing off access to the water entirely; rather than allow black people to share in the pleasures offered by public parks and pools, white Americans willingly destroyed the spaces that had created the conditions for so much of their own joy
◦ Pg. 180 - the gap between knowing and realizing
◦ Pg. 185 - residents of these anacostia river-adjacent neighborhoods now face extreme health hazards as a result of little more than living in neighborhoods where pollution and racial discrimination have combined to contaminate the soil, water, and air
◦ Pg. 193 - disaster swept through again and again, flood and federal government, the catastrophe of a community stolen by the river and racial all too real
◦ Pg. 197 - Washington was expanding dramatically then, and city planners insisted that every inch of ground was needed for their new gridded suburbs
◦ Pg. 208 - to live in this city is to have your citizenship stolen by other Americans who believe that your home exists only in service to theirs
◦ Pg. 212 - the sense of entitlement that American citizens extend over Washington DC is made all the more compelling by the fact that dc remains a very black city and is therefore understood to be a subject that not only can be but should be possessed and controlled
◦ Pg. 223 - that is refuses clarity, that it thrives on paradox; it has never been allowed to exist on its own terms
◦ Pg. 228 - in pursuit of constructive reparations, the past is no longer a fetter, holding us in the same position of racial division and civic enmity. Instead, it is a root from which we might grown a society guided by the ethics and values of the places where we live, not the nation we are bound to.

[Jasen · Rating 4 out of 5]

I learned a lot here, with lots of notes and quotes from the pages of DC residents & famous ecologists. Lots of good stuff but I didn’t take issue with the tone, diction, and the endless centering on settler colonialism. Yes, we live in a place with a troubled and racist history but not everything needs to be centered within that lens. Sometimes a place can just be the here-and-now without the endless echoes of history thundering around the bend. It felt that the author could only be present while being steeped in the past without any reflections on ‘what’ might happen to better align the future with healing the sins of the past. ‘Bones’ was my least favorite section; did love swimming and all the plants sections. Clearly I did not write this book as I would have made other choices but I’m glad I went walking with Charlotte.

A few things I would have loved to hear about: fish, turtles, roads, WWII, dredging, development, etc.

“Potomac Fever” by Charlotte Taylor Fryar

“There was something compelling, if not quite appealing, about the dissipating river. I felt a first need to imagine the desert chasm that a desiccated Potomac would reveal. I envisioned the river gone, fish swept to see, trees turned to parched toothpicks. A curious, almost compulsive desire for things to get worse overtook me, as if I could not help but prefer the most sensational outcome for this bit of bad weather.” P.177

“The obsession with the flash drought sourced from the sort of reality that accompanies belief that the slice of time you occupy is, in some sense, extraordinary, and that your memory of an exceptional event – and by extension, you, yourself – might one day become history. Disaster, even if it is the prolonged type, as most droughts are, has the capacity to thrill us. We like to look at disaster as long as we don’t have to participate. Eventually, I knew, it would rain, and one day I would be the old woman on the porch remembering the great October drought that almost drained the river.” P.177-178

“Pocketing the skull, I thought how peculiar it was to be preoccupied by thoughts of this animals existence while holding in my hand the stuff of its demise. But this, of course, was the paradox and pleasure of bone hunting. To fish and ferret and grub about for these objects it made me feel more animal-like myself, conscious that I was alive and kicking.” P.220

“I’m not sure why it happens this way, how I can feel, within the span of a few minutes, I love for this place so deep that I want to drowned in it, and then an alien nation so cute that it feels as though my skin is being threshed. There are moments with this river that feel close to madness, when I think what foolishness it is to be in love with something that buy it’s nature only six to leave you.
This, I think, is the reason I like walking up river more than I like walking down. I can imagine the water pressing against me that way, depositing silt or something else that I might always carry. To walk the other way, with the water, I am reminded that we are separate bodies, that as much as I would like to become part of this place in a way as indelible as the river itself, I cannot, not fully. and so I turned around, moving back against the current, willing myself to remember that I live here and then I love it, and that I, along with everything else here, belong.” P.221

[Christine · Rating 3 out of 5]

Disclaimer: ARC via LIbrarything giveaway.

This book is a bit conflicted. There is really no other way to describe it. Fryar writes so beautifully and passionately not only about the Potomac, but about the flora and fauna that inhabit the area. She writes about how the residents of DC are disenfranchised. She loves where she lives. There are parts of this book that are sheer poetry when she describes natural beauty.

More importantly, she is aware of how her privilege can impact how she moves though the environment and how she sees things. This is set up early on in the book where she not only discusses the racial lines and divide of Washington DC and its suburb (including a good critical bit about Anne Carson) and the gentrification of the city, but also when she encounters an eagle and then realizes she is on private property that showcases a “no trespassing” sign. The essay about green space was brilliant, in part by showing how a statistic or data point that looks good doesn’t tell the full story. At times, Fryer does an excellent job of using her family history of long time Southerners to illustrate larger issues.

Yet that is also the problem. There is too much awareness of white guilt in the book. It’s not performative. Fryar writes with passion, but more importantly with sincerity. Yet there are times when one rolls one’s eyes a little because of the guilt, she writes about almost feels performative (note feels. She is sincere). She relates a dining experience that was, if not outright ruined, made unpleasurable because she realizes the gentrification that occurred in the neighborhood. She mentions because she is a settler, she can’t call where she lives home. This, despite the fact that her words and style clearly convey that the area is in fact home to her. It is important, vitally important, that the reflection on race and privilege be present in this book – one cannot write about DC and not do so. And in fact, at times it does make the reader look at things differently, for instance the story about the eagle. But much of the time white guilt overwhelms the book. It becomes less of a book about the Potomac and more about how she sees/feels her white guilt/privilege.

It’s true the book’s title contains the word reflections, and what one reflects upon when looking at something as varied as humanity. However, while Fryer does make the connection between the river and how it can/does represent/incorporate white supremacy and privilege, too often it becomes this is how the author feels in terms of white guilt. That personal guilt, especially when it pops every few pages with little or no boarder reflection on it, gets tiring quickly. Not tiring because it’s wrong or unimportant, but more because there really isn’t anything else there much of the time. So, the reader can say, I understand and might even feel the same way, but what are you going to do about it?

Perhaps the book would feel less that way if the reader parceled out the essays instead of reading the book straight though. Taking each essay separately with the reader pacing herself will allow the wonderful and, at times, powerful writing to shine though.

[J Earl · Rating 5 out of 5]

Potomac Fever by Charlotte Taylor Fryar is part nature study, part memoir, and part history book. In this case, they all gather around the Potomac River.

This collection of essays is what you might expect from a historian (who has studied race relations) and herbalist. As she walks and spends time along the river, she thinks about the history of the area as well as the plants and animals. At the same time that she feels right at home she also understands the privilege that she has that is a direct result of our country's racial policies.

I understand some readers know they have such privilege but hate actually facing it so they will be put off by facts being presented so inconveniently (for them). If you want to simply enjoy your unearned advantages in life without working to make things better (which also means learning as much of the history as possible) you will be put off by that aspect of the book. Too bad. Cry with your friends at your next hooded meeting.

I lived and grew up in the area, within the beltway but in Maryland, and have some familiarity with some of the places mentioned. This book gave me a new appreciation for not just the area, which I have always loved, but the wildlife in the area. My next trip to visit friends will probably include some time by the river away from the hustle and bustle.

Highly recommended for those who like to know more about an area than just the nature, or just the current occupants, but about how the land helped shape the history which, of course, made the place what it is now.

Reviewed from a copy made available by the publisher via LibraryThing.

[Sarah Swedberg · Rating 5 out of 5]

At a Christmas gathering in 2021, when I told people Adele and I were moving to D.C., one of the people there said, "Oh, you can go to Old Ebbitt Grill to see the politicians."

I was appalled. Adele and I had decided to move to D.C. to be in a vibrant and diverse urban community that also had a lot of green space. We looked forward to arts, culture, food, farmers markets, public libraries, and all the things that come with city living. We had not decided to come to D.C. because the federal government is seated here. We had no interest in rubbing elbows with politicians.

Since moving here, I have found it hard to explain the city to people who have only visited the tourist destinations or come on a high school field trip. In terms of political power, yes, this is the belly of the beast, but the city is so much more than that. It's hard to explain how I can walk a mile down to the Sunday Farmers' Market and run into people I know or how I can step out of my building early in the morning and see an eagle flying over the green space across the street.

I wish I could gift Charlotte Taylor Fryar's *Potomac Fever* to everyone to whom I try to explain the city. Of course Fryar's relationship to the city is different from mine, but it is similar enough that her descriptions and explanations resonate. She explains, beautifully, some of what I try to explain less beautifully when I'm frustrated by my friends' incomprehension.

Fryar's book is a work of environmentalism and history, of racism and segregation, pollution and colonization, neighborhoods and ecotones.

[Brandon Pytel · Rating 3 out of 5]

Part DC history, part nature memoir, part introspective essays on race and gentrification, Potomac fever is full of reflections on DC’s place in history and its sense of self: the split psyche that it belongs to the nation, but it’s more layered than that: It’s a Black capital city that belongs to the white settler nation.

The Potomac River encapsulates these contradictions, divisions, as well as the possibility of belonging. It is both a place of gathering and a place to claim as your own, a gateway to the west, a center of commerce, a vision of nature — neither fully wild nor urban — as well as a reflection of our culture and scarred histories.

“The river’s geography and ecology are the terrain and living material that have made the nation’s history, rooted in white supremacy, colonialism, capitalism, and land depredation… The river would serve as the axis of democracy and economy, from which trade, industry, and slavery would spin outwards in all directions.”

Along the way we get social critique and explanations of gentrification, of the policies that have led to the stark differences in development along the Potomac v. the Anacostia, of white flight and segregation, of the abandonment of public services that followed desegregation, of climate change and urban renewal, both of which hurt minority communities disproportionately.

But the fault in this book is that Fryar makes nearly everything about these large social and geopolitical tensions: a public pool cannot simply be a public pool but a diatribe against white colonist policies; seeing a bald eagle cannot be simply to embrace its grandeur, but must be met with guilt for what it means to be white in America; invading species become about how white Americans have taken ownership and control over land; Washington itself becomes natural extension of slavery. In an essay, these are good points; in a book they become tiresome.

The Potomac River is many things to many people. To Fryar, her relationship with it is about the river over time: “I am conscious all at once of the mess of the past, the beauty of the present, and the strangeness of the future… If I want to be part of this space, then i must commit to untying the violent legacy of the past from the present and future.”

[Becky · Rating 4 out of 5]

A personal love letter to the Potomac, and the DMV, that confronts the very real racist and disenfranchising history that has made this region what it is today. Poetic, insightful, and enlightening, Potomac Fever invites us to consider our relationships to place and past. I would love for everyone who lives, works, or recreates in the Potomac's environs to pick this book up and explore what it has to teach.

[Susie Dumond · Rating 5 out of 5]

A fascinating exploration of Washington, DC's ecological history. It's easy to forget while living in this city that we have such unique nature and wildlife all around us. Charlotte Taylor Fryar does a lovely job profiling the Potomac River and its natural surroundings, and she also uses it to frame DC's complicated human history. This would make a great gift for folks who live in the DC area!

[Hadyn · Rating 5 out of 5]

Incredible read, especially for residents of the DMV! After I finished it, I was so appreciative of the river I went canoeing and then fishing. I've also talked up this book to multiple people. The chapter about the public pools was incredible and scathing.

[Leila Jinnah · Rating 5 out of 5]

An absolute joy to read. Refreshing to read stories that are so self aware, and always reminding us of the true history of spaces, and how all of our actions matter.

Charlotte speaks eloquently and gives credit where credit is due.

[Shea Harding · Rating 4 out of 5]

This was a really great read as a recent transplant. Teaching in D.C. is a task that requires a deep understanding of the city’s history and sociology and this is a great starting point for any deep dive into those.

[Michael · Rating 5 out of 5]

Fascinating look at the Potomac, its history with humanity and how it relates to race relations in the District. Great book.

[Sidra · Rating 4 out of 5]

This had some interesting facts about the natural land around DC. But it also hit you over the head with all that white people have stolen from everyone else in order to get ahead.

[Ethan Skuches · Rating 4 out of 5]

Well written and passionate story about the connection between people and space and their environment. That being said, really dense book.

[Meghan · Rating 5 out of 5]

Such a beautiful love story of a complicated piece of nature. I spent so much time looking up the places mentioned and planning time to explore them. if you've ever lived in DC read this book!