The Most Crooked River in the World

“Although there are other explorations of riparian and wetland change, Jon T. Coleman’s unique reverse chronological perspective is original and compelling.”—Nancy Langston, author of Sustaining Lake Superior: An Extraordinary Lake in a Changing World and Distinguished Professor Emerita, Michigan Tech University“A landmark contribution in environmental history.”—Emily O’Gorman, author of Wetlands in a Dry Land: More-Than-Human Histories of Australia’s Murray-Darling Basin“Most historians start their stories in the past and walk us toward the present. Jon T. Coleman departs from this itinerary, starting in the present and taking us backward through time to the wonderland of a river long since ditched, diverted, and drained beyond recognition. Along this circuitous route, The Most Crooked River in the World invites us to reimagine the past without nostalgia and to contemplate the liberatory possibilities of a future unbound to progress. A tour de force of environmental history.”—Louis S. Warren, W. Turrentine Jackson Distinguished Professor of Western U.S. History, University of California, Davis“Remarkably creative in exposition and analysis, Jon T. Coleman’s authoritative and thoroughly elegaic account moves seamlessly among energy, space, and time.”—Frederick Rowe Davis, author of Banned: A History of Pesticides and the Science of Toxicology

Jon T. Coleman is Andrew V. Tackes College Professor of History at the University of Notre Dame. He is the author of several books, including Nature Shock: Getting Lost in America. He lives in South Bend, IN.