Flow: The Life and Times of Philadelphia's Schuylkill River (Hardcover)

by Beth Kephart (Author)
Key Phrases: The Free Library of Philadelphia, Schuylkill River, George Washington (more...)

Editorial Reviews

Review
"Beth Kephart's Flow is just a sumptuous book-haunting, poetic, lit up with gems of beauty and history. We engorge ourselves on materialism. The legacy of our generation will be our consumerism. But Flow and its exquisite evocation of the Schuylkill River reminds us that nature still trumps everything. Which makes the book all the more beautiful and all the more rare." -- Buzz Bissinger, author of A Prayer for the City and Friday Night Lights

Product Description
The Schuylkill River-the name in Dutch means "hidden creek"-courses many miles, turning through Philadelphia before it yields to the Delaware. "I am this wide. I am this deep. A tad voluptuous, but only in places," writes Beth Kephart, capturing the voice of this natural resource in Flow.

An award-winning author, Kephart's elegant, impressionistic story of the Schuylkill navigates the beating heart of this magnificent water source. Readers are invited to flow through time-from the colonial era and Ben Franklin's death through episodes of Yellow Fever and the Winter of 1872, when the river froze over-to the present day. Readers will feel the silt of the Schuylkill's banks, swim with its perch and catfish, and cruise-or scull-downstream, from Reading to Valley Forge to the Water Works outside center city.

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Product Details

• Hardcover: 120 pages
• Publisher: Temple University Press (May 28, 2007)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1592136362
• ISBN-13: 978-1592136360
• Product Dimensions: 8.5 x 5.7 x 0.7 inches
• Shipping Weight: 8.8 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.6 out of 5 stars See all reviews (5 customer reviews)
• Amazon.com Sales Rank: #846,019 in Books (See Bestsellers in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Soul of the Schuylkill, June 27, 2007

By	RiverWriter - See all my reviews

I'm lucky enough to spend a lot of time on rivers--fishing, hiking, watching the currents. But I've never read a more original or interesting portrait of any place (water or land) than FLOW. The short sections (written from the point of view of the Schuylkill)are so detailed they function like stories or lyric essays. This is a book that made me really *feel* the Schuylkill, and I also got to bask in the history of the region, which just made reading the book that much more enjoyable. I think Beth Kephart may have invented her own genre here: the river autobiography. FLOW is a book that will influence outdoor/nature writers for a long time to come.

5.0 out of 5 stars Kudos, Beth Kephart !, October 6, 2008

By	Fan of Schuylkill River painter Carl P. Weber (New York) - See all my reviews

Flow left me in awe. The Schuylkill River can not only be visualized, it can be touched and smelled and tasted and heard. The river's emotions are raw, gut-wrenching. The river forces one to look at events from a different perspective. The river is all-consuming, sweeping one away in its embrace. Once drawn in, it is nearly impossible to shut the book and walk away.

It is difficult to remember any other book this finely written, this intelligent, this unique. Not only do I recommend this book to Amazon purchasers, I myself will purchase several more copies for Christmas, birthday and holiday gifts for family and friends. Don't miss this one! Add it to your shelf!

5.0 out of 5 stars FLOW is the amazing, January 6, 2008

By	Leslie Kase (Philadelphia, PA, USA) - See all my reviews (REAL NAME)

Beth Kephart is a remarkable writer and poet. Writing the history of the river from the point of view of the river is not only creative but ingenius. It is so much more than just history; it is inspirational.