Customer Reviews

Headwaters: A Journey on Alabama Rivers

5 star:		(6)
4 star:		(0)
3 star:		(1)
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Review by Tim Palmer, photographer and author of Rivers of America and other books

Beth Maynor Young's exquisite documentary of beauty, biology, and geography captures what people need to know about rivers throughout the South. A book like this should be available for each state in America, but only a few have them. Young is fine photographer who has finally created the art that Alabama's rivers deserve.

This gorgeous coffee table book takes the reader on a beautiful, informative and exciting journey down the author's composite River of Alabama. Starting our trip on the tiny springs that merge and blend into rivers that flow to the Gulf of Mexico, it is as if we are floating in a canoe, all the while listening to the languid but passionate Southern accent of John Hall, a knowlegeable and friendly guide. Beth Young's photographs give us the perspective of being on the river at just the right season: when wildflowers are blooming on this river, when these falls are crashing with heavy snow melt or rain, when the trees are bare and we see deep into that forests, when the sun is at just the right angle to reflect off this pool of water. Hall and Young boost Alabama, conservation, education, wild space, and serenity with this treasure of a book. This is a book to study, to pick up and flip through, to share, to savour.

My mother loves her book! She read a review of it in the newspaper and asked for it for as her Mother's Day present. She told us that if she wants to take a vacation, she can just look at the pictures in the book. I think she is going to get years of enjoyment from the book.

I had hoped for more of a geographical river tour that would allow one to find areas to explore by a personal boat. Perhaps there are no large rivers for boating in Alabama. My question is still unanswered.

An incredible journey on Alabama Rivers with outstanding text by John Hall and spectacular photographs by Beth Maynor Young. I gave this as a Christmas gift to five good friends and they were all thrilled.

John Hall won the 2010 Phillip D. Reed Award for Outstanding Writing on the American South for this book, from the Southern Environmental Law Center. Congratulations!

Definitely the most in depth and expertly written natural history of Alabama. Totally fascinating with many surprises.
Photographs are excellent too! It covers far more than just the headwaters and rivers. Very glad I bought it!