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Title details for Brave the Wild River by Melissa L. Sevigny - Available

Brave the Wild River

The Untold Story of Two Women Who Mapped the Botany of the Grand Canyon

by Melissa L. Sevigny
Elizabeth Wiley
Audiobook
32 of 33 copies available
Borrow Listen to a sample Listen to a sample
32 of 33 copies available
In the summer of 1938, botanists Elzada Clover and Lois Jotter set off to run the Colorado River, accompanied by an ambitious and entrepreneurial expedition leader, a zoologist, and two amateur boatmen. With its churning waters and treacherous boulders, the Colorado was famed as the most dangerous river in the world. Journalists and veteran river runners boldly proclaimed that the motley crew would never make it out alive. But for Clover and Jotter, the expedition held a tantalizing appeal: no one had yet surveyed the plant life of the Grand Canyon, and they were determined to be the first.
Through the vibrant letters and diaries of the two women, science journalist Melissa L. Sevigny traces their daring forty-three-day journey down the river, during which they meticulously cataloged the thorny plants that thrived in the Grand Canyon's secret nooks and crannies. Along the way, they chased a runaway boat, ran the river's most fearsome rapids, and turned the harshest critic of female river runners into an ally. Clover and Jotter's plant list, including four new cactus species, would one day become vital for efforts to protect and restore the river ecosystem.
Brave the Wild River is a spellbinding adventure of two women who risked their lives to make an unprecedented botanical survey of a defining landscape in the American West.

  • Creators

  • Publisher

  • Release date

    May 23, 2023

  • Formats

    • OverDrive Listen audiobook

      • ISBN: 9781696611978
      • File size: 313468 KB
      • Duration: 10:53:03

  • Languages

    • English

  • Reviews

    • Library Journal

      September 1, 2023

      Science writer Sevigny (Mythical River) documents the 1938 survey of the Colorado River by the first two women botanists seeking distinctive plants growing in the Grand Canyon. Shoving off in June, Elzada Clover, Lois Jotter, and an expedition leader with three boatmen traveled 600 miles down the Colorado, facing danger when running the rapids, hunting for and documenting hundreds of plants, and arriving at Lake Mead 43 days later. Woven into the narrative are mentions of previous river expeditions, starting with John Wesley Powell's in 1869. Elizabeth Wiley adroitly narrates this account, employing a dramatic flair when sharing the women's letters and diaries and creating separate voices for each as they describe stops along the way, problems encountered, and breathtaking sights seen. Wiley's empathy for the painful limits imposed on women scientists in the 1930s is palpable (botany being one of the few sciences open to women at the time). Wiley also infuses a feeling of frustration in passages that speak of other societal limitations based on sex and race. VERDICT An amazing trip down an awe-inspiring river, and a powerful tribute to two pioneering women of science.--Stephanie Bange

      Copyright 2023 Library Journal, LLC Used with permission.

Formats

  • OverDrive Listen audiobook

subjects

Languages

  • English

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