| Format | Hardcover |
| Publication Date | 09/23/25 |
| ISBN | 9781639368631 |
| Trim Size / Pages | 6 x 9 in / 448 |
A magisterial history of the seven rivers representing the great natural arteries running through civilization, by virtue of the roles they have played in our shared and conflicted world history.
We have navigated them, dammed them, and worshipped at them. From the ancient ecosystems of Egypt to the sinking cities of Shanghai and London, what we do with our rivers tells us about who has power and what we value. Now, when environmental regulations are at their strongest and a passion for wild swimming is flourishing, when the Amazon is on fire and some of our major river systems are dying, it has never been clearer that rivers are intertwined with humanity at our best and our worst.
Seven Rivers is the story of the Nile, Danube, Niger, Mississippi, Ganges, Yangtze, and Thames. It is a story of imperial frontiers, alluvial gold, kidnappings, slavery, decolonization, creation myths, and the killing of rivers. It is about those people who’ve lived and died on these rivers and their endless capacity for invention: their harnessing of oases and aquifers, their lotus pools and hanging gardens, their gigantic canal systems and elaborate fishing rituals, their absolute powers and their sly rebellions.
At the heart of this story are the empire builders of the Chinese dynasties, Romans and Hindus and their river gods, the Habsburgs and Ottomans, Mughal emperors, the people of the Niger from Mali’s golden age to today, the struggles of life and death on the Mississippi, and the dethroning of the British on the rivers of their imperial subjects.
What follows is the epic story of humanity in seven rivers.
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“A deeply researched exploration of how seven rivers have shaped human societies around the world. History buffs will have a blast.” —Publishers Weekly
“This is history at its most scintillating. It’s an original, brilliantly-conceived book that will delight and excite.What a magnificent feat of imagination and of research to tell the human story through the beauty of water. These seven currents of time sparkle with erudition. With world rivers in crisis, this book should be essential reading for policy makers.” Nicholas Crane, award-winning author of The Making of the British Landscape and former president of the Royal Geographical Society
