Passage of Discovery: The American Rivers Guide to the Missouri River of Lewis and Clark

Rating:
Summary: Very readable and informative!
Review: Nothing is as constant as change on the unfettered Missouri River. Few stretches of the Missouri remain as Lewis & Clark observed them. The river, as Botkin observes, is "nature's landscape painter". The canvas is continually changing in response to the forces of a river draining one-sixth of the U.S.

Botkin presents us with the story of the first navigation of the river by Lewis and Clarke, through the river's channalization by the Army Corp of Engineers, to present efforts to restore and interpret the river.

But, this book is more than an inventory of facts and issues. It contains vivid illustrations of nature's interrelationships and wry observations on the irony of man "improving" nature.

This is a very practical, pragmatic, yet poetic book.

Rating:
Summary: Very readable and informative!
Review: Nothing is as constant as change on the unfettered Missouri River. Few stretches of the Missouri remain as Lewis & Clark observed them. The river, as Botkin observes, is "nature's landscape painter". The canvas is continually changing in response to the forces of a river draining one-sixth of the U.S.

Botkin presents us with the story of the first navigation of the river by Lewis and Clarke, through the river's channalization by the Army Corp of Engineers, to present efforts to restore and interpret the river.

But, this book is more than an inventory of facts and issues. It contains vivid illustrations of nature's interrelationships and wry observations on the irony of man "improving" nature.

This is a very practical, pragmatic, yet poetic book.

Rating:
Summary: Review of "Passage of Discovery" from The Riverfront Times
Review: Reviewed by Eddie Silva, The Riverfront Times, St. Louis, July 14-20, 1999. "Ecologist Daniel Botkin has written a unique hybrid of a book that maps one of the greatest American rivers and its constantly changing relationship to the people who have lived adjacent to it. Part history, part environmental study, part travel guide, Passage of Discovery: The American Rivers Guide to the Missouri River of Lewis and Clark is especially noteworthy to those living in the state whose name comes from that river. Following Lewis and Clark's journey up the Missouri River from St. Louis to Montana, the author juxtaposes reflections of the land the explorers saw, as recorded in journals at the beginning of the 19th century, with what is there now, at the end of the 20th. Given that the Missouri was recently designated the second-most- endangered river in America (after the Snake), Passage of Discovery is an unexpectedly positive work. Botkin is in no way sanguine about the current condition of the Missouri River, but he maintains that one of the river's great qualities is its resilience. . . Botkin reports on the various ways the Missouri is being restored - not to the pristine character that the Corps of Discovery traveled but to a condition that is healthier and more beneficial to a variety of interests. These practices are sometimes as simple as allowing snag - dead trees that lie in the river - to remain in side channels and backwaters to provide healthy fish habitat. . . Botkin's book is about the control of nature, but with a light touch. "'Nature is dynamic rather than static,'" he says over coffee at the Adam's Mark [Hotel in St. Louis]. "We tend to look at environmental issues as if there were a truth when it is much more a design issue - and it is good to have more than one design." "Botkin discusses how the two legendary commanders offer models of leadership and environmental sensitivity that deserve study and emulation today." "The two men were "very able, great planners but at the same time were out there talking about the sublime and the beautiful." "Passage of Discovery is a guide for travelers to follow on comfortable tours along interstates and country roads, approximating the Lewis and Clark route by automobile, mercifully, rather than through macho reenactment by canoe against the Missouri's might current. . . . As fantastic and perilous as the expedition was, Botkin refers less to extraordinary deeds than to the remarkable equilibrium of temperament Meriwether Lewis and William Clark exemplified, bringing to their endeavors the combined qualities of "spirit and understanding."

Rating:
Summary: A Waterlogged Trip up the Missouri
Review: This book is not meant as a precise historical account of the journeys of Lewis & Clark, but a study of the Missouri River and its surrounding areas as the explorers saw them, vs. how these areas have changed since then. Also, the portion of the Lewis & Clark journey west of the Rockies is not included, as the book sticks to the Missouri River. The most blatant changes in these ecosystems are the straightening and channelization of the river itself, which has led to massive environmental (and economic) damage for a pathetically small amount of barge traffic; plus the conversion of vast prairies to farmland which has led to serious losses of native flora and fauna. The book becomes a messy mixture of travelogue, as Botkin describes how to reach key areas of the river, and musings on the environmental health of these areas. While Botkin has had well-deserved success in environmentalist circles, his attempts to draw up naturalist ethics and morality significantly weaken this book. A lack of focus and the squishy writing of a college freshman are also damaging. Botkin is prone to god-awful metaphors, starting the main narrative awkwardly with "Rocks are nature's books; minerals are its words" and populating the rest of the book with more groaners like "Rocks Tell Stories and Soils are Nature's Braille" (subtitle of chapter 25). His attempts to wax philosophical on mankind's modern lack of connection with nature, while correct in spirit, are also unsuccessful in the writing department. See the awkward comparison of a pelican's spiraling flight path to society's shifting concerns for the environment in chapter 6, or the predictable comparison of prairie dog towns with an ideal human society in chapter 32. This book had the potential to be a real winner as both a travelogue with a historical twist and as a treatise on environmental philosophy. Unfortunately it merely flirts with those two strengths without really nailing them, and is sunk overall by weak writing.

Rating:
Summary: Fantastic travel book!!
Review: This is a fantastic book for anyone visiting the Missouri river.

Book has handy maps, illustrations and reference points for the person making a modern day trip. Notes by Stephen Ambrose and Robert Redford at beginning and end of book commend book as well!

If you are only mildly interested in Lewis and Clark before reading this book - afterwards you'll be completely astounded by their feats!!