“Historically, culturally, ecologically, and aesthetically, Dry River records the river’s metamorphoses in order to reconstruct five hundred years of geological and social change. With scholarly expertise artfully enlivened by his five super-keen senses and much literary skill, Lamberton has produced a southwestern environmental classic.”—Harold Fromm, author of The Nature of Being Human: From Environmentalism to Consciousness
“Time is, of course, a river. So as Ken Lamberton walks the two-hundred-mile length of the Santa Cruz River near Tucson, he travels also through the long histories of the people who sank their roots in the sandy washes. Lamberton is an amiable and well-informed guide, and the territory he covers is fascinating.”—Kathleen Dean Moore, author of Wild Comfort
“In this eloquent riparian love story, all things ultimately flow together: past and present and future, family and place, struggle and hope, and even earthly exploration and the search for signs of life on Mars. Taking stock of his life in the Santa Cruz watershed and stalking the passionate history and subtle natural patterns of this (often) dry river, Ken Lamberton warmly embraces his amazing family and the extraordinary desert characters, human and otherwise, of southern Arizona and northern Mexico. This is a compelling work of hope and celebration.”—Scott Slovic, editor of ISLE: Interdisciplinary Studies in Literature and Environment
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"The narrative is delightful, and is told as the author walks sections of the Santa Cruz River, from its headwaters to its confluence more than 200 miles away. Often it is a wife
or daughter who drops him off or picks him up from his journey or accompanies him. The poetry of the page is matched by the humanity of the author's story."—Electronic Green Journal
"A literary act of river restoration."—High Country News
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