When the Rivers Run Dry: Water--The Defining Crisis of the Twenty-first Century

Just as Norman Maclean writes at the end of "A River Runs through It" that he is "haunted by waters," so have readers been haunted by his novella. A retired English professor who began writing fiction at the age of 70, Maclean produced what is now recognized as one of the classic American stories of the twentieth century. Originally published in 1976, A River Runs through It and Other Stories now celebrates its twenty-fifth anniversary, marked by this new edition that includes a foreword by Annie Proulx.

Maclean grew up in the western Rocky Mountains in the first decades of the twentieth century. As a young man he worked many summers in logging camps and for the United States Forest Service. The two novellas and short story in this collection are based on his own experiencesthe experiences of a young man who found that life was only a step from art in its structures and beauty. The beauty he found was in reality, and so he leaves a careful record of what it was like to work in the woods when it was still a world of horse and hand and foot, without power saws, "cats," or four-wheel drives. Populated with drunks, loggers, card sharks, and whores, and set in the small towns and surrounding trout streams and mountains of western Montana, the stories concern themselves with the complexities of fly fishing, logging, fighting forest fires, playing cribbage, and being a husband, a son, and a father.

By turns raunchy, poignant, caustic, and elegiac, these are superb tales which express, in Maclean's own words, "a little of the love I have for the earth as it goes by." A first offering from a 70-year-old writer, the basis of a top-grossing movie, and the first original fiction published by the University of Chicago Press, A River Runs through It and Other Stories has sold more than a million copies. As Proulx writes in her foreword to this new edition, "In 1990 Norman Maclean died in body, but for hundreds of thousands of readers he will live as long as fish swim and books are made."

"Altogether beautiful in the power of its feeling. . . . As beautiful as anything in Thoreau or Hemingway."—Alfred Kazin, Chicago Tribune Book World

"It is an enchanted tale. . . . I have read the story three times now, and each time it seems fuller."— Roger Sale, New York Review of Books

"Maclean's book—acerbic, laconic, deadpan—rings out of a rich American tradition that includes Mark Twain, Kin Hubbard, Richard Bissell, Jean Shepherd, and Nelson Algren. I love its sound."—James R. Frakes, New York Times Book Review

"The title novella is the prize. . . . Something unique and marvelous: a story that is at once an evocation of nature's miracles and realities and a probing of human mysteries. Wise, witty, wonderful, Maclean spins his tales, casts his flies, fishes the rivers and the woods for what he remembers from his youth in the Rockies."—Publishers Weekly

"Ostensibly a 'fishing story,' 'A River Runs through It' is really an autobiographical elegy that captivates readers who have never held a fly rod in their hand. In it the art of casting a fly becomes a ritual of grace, a metaphor for man's attempt to move into nature."—Andrew Rosenheim, The Independent

Norman Maclean (1902-1990) was the William Rainey Harper Professor of English at the University of Chicago. His book on Montana's Mann Gulch forest fire of 1949, Young Men and Fire, is also available from the University of Chicago Press.

Drawing on historical research, case studies, and interviews with officials, scholars, and activists in China, Economy traces the economic and political roots of China's environmental challenge and the evolution of the leadership's response. She argues that China's current approach to environmental protection mirrors the one embraced for economic development: devolving authority to local officials, opening the door to private actors, and inviting participation from the international community, while retaining only weak central control. The result has been a patchwork of environmental protection in which a few wealthy regions with strong leaders and international ties improve their local environments, while most of the country continues to deteriorate, sometimes suffering irrevocable damage. Economy compares China's response with the experience of other societies and sketches out several possible futures for the country.

It was a time when English landlords held power over Irish tenant farmers and seeds of bitterness were sown that would last for generations. In an endeavor to eliminate all influences of Irish heritage, the English forced an intellectual and spiritual bondage on Ireland as well as a bitter physical bondage of servitude. Freedom had become so rare that the Irish coined a saying, "In Ireland only the rivers run free." Yet one poor, befuddled old woman speaks of freedom, truth, and hope. Mad Molly Fahey promises the priest and villages that a miracle is on its way.

The Thoenes went in an unexpected direction when they started this series. Up til now, they'd been writing about Israel and America. For that reason, I've put off starting this series, even though I've heard such good thing about it. Boy, was that a mistake!

I know very little about Irish history. In this one book, I learned so much that helps me understand the current struggles. Yet, as always, the history is wrapped in a wonderful story with very real characters. While I figured a few things out before they happened, most of the time I was unsure what would happen next and had a hard time putting the book down as a result. As always, the Thoenes develop their characters well and I felt myself getting angry on their behalf on more then one occasion.

I'm already planning my next trip to Ballynockanor for the next chapter in this sage. Any fan of the Thoenes or anyone wanting some fictitious background on Ireland will love this book.

In chapters that include "Fritters, Griddle Cakes, Breads, and Cereals," "Soups and Stews," and "Weekend Specials," the authors present uncomplicated yet tantalizing dishes like Horseradish-Crusted Fish, Red Beans and Rice Soup, and Fried Chicken Salad with Buttermilk Dressing. A section devoted to sides provides familiar and unconventional dishes including Shaken Potatoes, Fried Dill Pickles (a Southern specialty), and the deeply satisfying Corn and Oyster Casserole. With dessert and drink recipes that include a knockout chocolate mousse pie and refreshing citrus-juice-spiked Russian tea, the book offers good eating while conveying the spirit of a place and the people who give it life. --Arthur Boehm

From the time Jimmy and Maya Kennedy opened River Run in 1991, this tiny restaurant in Plainfield, Vermont has attracted local followers -- and national attention from the New York Times and Food and Wine. Called "the best place on earth" by Pulitzer Prize winner and frequent patron David Mamet, River Run is more than a restaurant: it's a warm, welcoming home-away-from-home that serves up great food with an extra helping of small-town charm. Inspired by both Jimmy's Mississippi upbringing and its rural surroundings, River Run's menu blends traditional Southern favorites with a touch of the North. It serves the kind of honest-to-goodness cooking that draws locals every day of the week, and attracts out-of-towners who drive miles just to sample the fare.

If Plainfield isn't in your neck of the woods, don't worry: with this book, you can make all of River Run's house favorites right in your own kitchen, including Jimmy's famed buttermilk pancakes, really big buttermilk biscuits, fried chicken, catfish cakes, and banana pudding. In keeping with River Run's down-to-earth style, the recipes are simple, uncomplicated, and easy to prepare -- even if you don't know your gumbo from your jambalaya.

With lively photos of River Run customers, delightful, illustrations by Maya Kennedy, and contributions from some famous locals, River Run Cookbook offers a picture of the fabric of life in this vibrant community. It's about more than great food -- it's about a great town and the people that make it so.