Publisher Description

From acclaimed writer Beth Kephart, author of A Slant of Sun, comes a short, imaginative telling of the life of the Schuylkill River, which has served as the source of Philadelphia's water, power, industry, and beauty for the city's entire life.  Before that, it fed the indigenous people who preceded William Penn, and has since time immemorial shape our region.

Author Biography

Beth Kephart is the award-winning author of five memoirs, including Still Love in Strange Places and the March 2005 Book Sense pick Ghosts in the Garden. She has been nominated for a National Book Award, has been awarded grants from the National Endowment for the Arts and the Pew Fellowships in the Arts, and has won the national Speakeasy Poetry Prize. She has written for The New York Times, Washington Post Book World, Chicago Tribune, Salon.com, Philadelphia magazine, and The Philadelphia Inquirer, among other publications, and her essays are frequently anthologized.

Table of Contents

FlowTable of ContentsPrefaceRising Bear Ganshowahanna Howling Flight Found Swarm Temptation Ice Storm Catfish Comet Confidante, Three Days Afterwards John Bartram Baptismal Rights State in Schuylkill Skating Party Tipsy Crossings Fort Mifflin Independence Confession Folly Ice Air Laurel Soul Yellow Fever Varnish The Hills Unplugged Meriwether Lewis Conflagration Progress Ornament Navigation Water Wheels Haven Meteors above the Colossus Love Eden Asylum Anthracite Fins Heroes Waste Civil War Respects Sculling Anthracite Nostalgia Steam Winter of 1872: Frozen Through Zoological Gardens Mighty Katherine Rows Intimations: Anthony Drexel Ooze Influenza Supperating Revenge Something Last Skate Abiding Kite Tails Falling Up Jewfish: The Aquarium at the Old Water Works Comet Flow Pussy Willows Hurricane Agnes Renditions Proverbial Something Catfish South Street Bridge Suicide Ernesta Drinker Ballard Blaze Love Bibliography Acknowledgments

Review

"Kephart gives the Schuylkill a voice, a memory, a melancholic sensibility. She has given us a finely-tuned and moving work of art, an exquisite book of loss and wanting. In 76 narrative poems and nearly as many short historical essays, Kephart returns the 'hidden river' to its place in our hearts." - Context

Long Description

From acclaimed writer Beth Kephart, author of A Slant of Sun, comes a short, imaginative telling of the life of the Schuylkill River, which has served as the source of Philadelphia's water, power, industry, and beauty for the city's entire life. Before that, it fed the indigenous people who preceded William Penn, and has since time immemorial shape our region.

Review Quote

"Kephart gives the Schuylkill a voice, a memory, a melancholic sensibility. She has given us a finely-tuned and moving work of art, an exquisite book of loss and wanting. In 76 narrative poems and nearly as many short historical essays, Kephart returns the 'hidden river' to its place in our hearts." --Context

Promotional "Headline"

A biography of the Schuylkill, and a meditation on the river's impact on Philadelphia's history, people, and environment.

Details