Customer Reviews

Ohio River Images: Cincinnati to Louisville in the Packet Boat Era (OH) (Images of America)

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Russell G. Ryle, Ohio River Images: Cincinnati to Louisville in the Packer Boat Era (Arcadia, 2000)

I've been reading Arcadia Press books this year-- though not nearly as many as I'd hoped to by July-- and I've found different strengths in each of them (for the most part). In contrast to William Burg's excellent books on Sacramento, which focus mostly on people and their stories, Russell Ryle's book on the southern stretch of the Ohio River focuses on the river itself for most of its length, talking more about trade routes then the people who plied them. Given the subject matter, I liked this approach a great deal. Overall, though, the book made me wonder: in an age of four-dollar gasoline, has anyone put forth the
idea of going back to packet boats? You'd have to think that, in the long run, they'd be a lot cheaper than eighteen-wheelers. The pleasure-cruise business has continued (albeit in a very limited capacity), so why not trade? ****