Goodbye to a river: a narrative

John Graves

Knopf, Jun 27, 1960 - Biography & Autobiography - 320 pages

In the 1950s, a series of dams was proposed along the Brazos River in north-central Texas. For John Graves, this project meant that if the stream’s regimen was thus changed, the beautiful and sometimes brutal surrounding countryside would also change, as would the lives of the people whose rugged ancestors had eked out an existence there. Graves therefore decided to visit that stretch of the river, which he had known intimately as a youth.

Goodbye to a River is his account of that farewell canoe voyage. As he braves rapids and fatigue and the fickle autumn weather, he muses upon old blood feuds of the region and violent skirmishes with native tribes, and retells wild stories of courage and cowardice and deceit that shaped both the river’s people and the land during frontier times and later. Nearly half a century after its initial publication, Goodbye to a River is a true American classic, a vivid narrative about an exciting journey and a powerful tribute to a vanishing way of life and its ever-changing natural environment.


From the Trade Paperback edition.

What people are saying

Review: Goodbye to a River: A Narrative

User Review  - Ken Clary - Goodreads

Just finished the audio book. Having come from this part of Texas, I could relate to the descriptions of the countryside and the river, especially up towards Possum Kingdom, where my Grandparents had ...

Review: Goodbye to a River: A Narrative

User Review - Goodreads

A must-read for every Texan, or anyone who has lost a childhood memory. Memorable.

Contents

• Section 1: 3
• Section 2: 17
• Section 3: 41

About the author

John Graves is the curator of ships history at the National Maritime Museum.

Bibliographic information

• Title: Goodbye to a river: a narrative; Vintage departures
• Author: John Graves
• Edition: reprint
• Publisher: Knopf, 1960
• Original from: the University of Virginia
• Digitized: Jan 11, 2008
• Length: 320 pages
• Subjects: Biography & Autobiography / General; Biography & Autobiography / Literary; Biography & Autobiography / Personal Memoirs; Brazos River; Brazos River (Tex.); Brazos River (Tex.) - Description and travel; Brazos River Valley (Tex.); Brazos River Valley (Tex.) - Description and travel; Brazos River Valley (Tex.) - History; Brazos Valley; Canoes and canoeing; Canoes and canoeing - Texas - Brazos River; Canoes and canoeing/ Texas/ Brazos River; Graves, John - Travel - Texas - Brazos River; Nature / Ecosystems & Habitats / Rivers; Sports & Recreation / Canoeing; Travel / Essays & Travelogues