Historic Waterways

(3.5 stars)

Steve

Interesting stories about the changing histories of riverside hamlets and towns in Wisconsin and northern Illinois. The account took place in the 1890s when traveling by river had been replaced by trains. It was interesting in light of our modern travel in rural areas which is nearly exclusively made by individual cars now. Cars replaced rural bus routes, which replaced inter urban trolleys and trains. Today, the rivers are enjoyed by kayakers, canoeists and people in float tubes. The old rail lines, that killed commercial transport by boat on those rivers, have themselves been torn up for “rails-to-trails” for biking and jogging. The recording uses several different readers -with some readers better than others.

Much Enjoyed

(3 stars)

Janelle

This was a great book, and the only reason I have given it three stars is because I disliked a few of the narrators. However, the rest of the narrators were terrific, and I appreciated their steady, well paced reading. As for the book itself, the author had a wonderful way of making me feel like I was in the canoe with him, experiencing his journeys as a fellow traveller. It's a very simple book really, but with the exception of a section on a massacre of Indians, it put me to sleep each night with pleasant thoughts.

(3 stars)

Kenneth Allen

Although it's an interesting book I can't say it compares favorably with other canoeing books like, "An Inland Voyage" or, "A Thousand Milies in a Rob Roy Canoe". The style is somewhat plain and the author's habit of belittling many of the people and places he encounters was off putting to me. Still it is an interesting look into this time and place. I thought the narration was pretty good all in all, and I enjoyed the listen.