Since hitting the American roads in Blue Highways nearly 20 years ago, William Least Heat-Moon has been following another calling--to traverse America by its rivers. "I wanted to see those secret parts hidden from road travelers," he writes. And from the waterways of his 5,000-mile voyage, Least Heat-Moon shares a sharp and stirring vision of America. Filling a small bottle with brine from the Atlantic Ocean, Least Heat-Moon and his wise companion, whom he calls "Pilotis," start up the Hudson River in a 22-foot C-Dory that Least Heat-Moon has named Nikawa--from the Osage words ni for river and kawa for horse. The voyage--from New York harbor to the Pacific Ocean--packs surprises, wisdom, regrets, mishaps, candor, and conversations that readers who savored Blue Highways and PrairyErth will delight in.

The impetus for River Horse is one of intrigue--less urgent than the departure in Blue Highways--and the narrative possesses a captivating pull as it courses westward through the strongest currents and pauses in the back eddies of contemporary American life. Least Heat-Moon is in his element. Written in short thematic chapters, River Horse plies canals, greets the Missouri's many moods, and challenges chaotic waves. Indeed, the turbulent and placid waters of America flow throughout this well-told story. When Nikawa finally reaches the Pacific Ocean, Least Heat-Moon has discovered a new America in the country he knows so well. He ponders the command that rivers hold on him and celebrates the national treasures that they are. Exceeding 500 pages, River Horse may be a long journey, but when traveling by rivers, America is a larger country. A triumphant book all the way to the salty Pacific. --Byron Ricks


From Publishers Weekly
Writing under the name Heat-Moon (Blue Highways), William Trogdon once again sets out across America, this time propelled chiefly by a dual-outboard boat dubbed Nikawa, "River Horse" in Osage. In this hardy craft, he and a small crew attempt to travel more than 5000 miles by inland waterways from the Atlantic to the Pacific in a single season. Citing 19th-century travelogues and dredging odd bits of the rivers' past, Heat-Moon conveys the significance of passing "beneath a bridge that has looked down on the stovepipe hat of Abraham Lincoln, the mustache of Mark Twain, the sooty funnels of a hundred thousand steamboats." Though at first he is struck by how river travel is "so primordial, so unchanged in its path," he later notes that the only thing Lewis and Clark would recognize on a dammed and severely altered stretch of the Missouri River is the bedeviling prairie wind. But what remains constant for him is "the greatest theme in our history: the journey." It is an American theme, though by "westering" and persistently believing that the voyage is destined to succeed, Heat-Moon seems to be on dangerous waters for someone who is part Native American. But his romantic attachment to the nature of exploration doesn't occlude his indictments of pollution, overzealous river management and aboriginal displacement. The book, though largely engaging, is not without its slow spots, which Heat-Moon avers are true to the trip's nature: "the river is no blue highway because the river removes reverie." Heat-Moon has written a rich chronicle of a massive and meaningful undertaking. Unlike Blue Highways, however, the focus is not so much on people and places as on the trials of a journey that bypasses them in favor of reaching its destination. Illus. 250,000 first printing; $250,000 ad/promo; 13-city author tour. (Oct.) Copyright 1999 Reed Business Information, Inc.


From Library Journal
Adventurer Heat-Moon carefully planned an unusual voyage from the Atlantic Ocean to the Pacific, via American lakes and rivers. Naming his boat Nikawa, which means "river horse" in the Osage Indian language, Heat-Moon set off from New York City harbor with his friend Pilotis. Using a diary format, he talks about places they visit, problems they encounter, and people they meet. The characters are basically colorful but lack charisma. Conversations/comments mostly reveal a rather banal, forced cleverness. Boating and travel quotations are woven in along with considerable profanity and several gruesome stories. Technically, the tapes are fine. Jay O. Sanders's clear voice, inflection, and overall talent improve the often-stilted material. A map showing the route of the trip would have been an interesting addition. A marginal purchase for adult travel collections.ACarolyn Alexander, Brigadoon Lib., Salinas, CA Copyright 2000 Reed Business Information, Inc.


From AudioFile
Here is a colorful account of the author's attempt to travel by water over the width of the North American continent. It is lyrical, albeit unsentimental and, one suspects, highly fictionalized, though occasional knotty circumlocutions mar the narrative. Sanders does his best with these and lends his virile presence to the rest. Y.R. (c) AudioFile, Portland, Maine


From Booklist
In the nineteenth century, America's waterways were its superhighways, the main routes of travel and commerce linking the territories and states of a country rapidly expanding across a continent. In 1995, veteran travel writer William Least Heat-Moon (aka William Trogdon) climbed aboard a 22-foot motorboat, with minimal equipment and provisions, and set out to retrace those historic travel routes across the U.S. interior. Heat-Moon made his unique voyage in under a year, traveling 5,000 miles and meeting dozens of Americans who still live their lives on or near the rivers. Heat-Moon has alchemized his log from that trip into a monumental travel book. In the constant company of his companion (actually a series of companions) known only by the pseudonym "Pilotis" ("my Pylades, my Pythia, my Pytheas"), Heat-Moon records storms, floods, mishaps, wildlife, scenic beauty, hilarity, and philosophic musings. His prose is straightforward and folksy, reminiscent of Twain and Melville. His journey becomes a living history of the U.S. as the well-read author refers to numerous historical events that took place along his route, quoting at length from other writers and adventurers who preceded him. At more than 500 pages, his epic does seem to run long, but the book is composed of self-containing chapters and can be read selectively. There is a timeless quality to Heat-Moon's stories, all remarkably spellbinding and enchanting. An excellent book. Ted Leventhal


From Kirkus Reviews
A coast-to-coast journey by way of great rivers, conducted by a contemporary master of travel writing. Ive visited every county in the contiguous states except for a handful in the Deep South, writes William Trogdon, a.k.a. William Least Heat-Moon (Blue Highways, 1983; Prairyerth, 1991). Put your finger at random anywhere in [a] United States atlas, and Ive either been there or within twenty-five miles of it. Hed logged hundreds and thousands of road miles, true, but Least Heat-Moona skilled sailor and navy veteranhad spent far less time on Americas rivers. To remedy that, he set out a couple of years ago on a 5,000-mile, four-month journey from Astoria, N.Y., to Astoria, Ore., in the company of an eminently pleasant Sancho Panza whom he calls Pilotis and a small crew, his craft a 22-foot-long dory called Nikawa, an Osage Indian word meaning river horse. Least Heat-Moon has a lovely, light touch as an instructor, but instruct he does, reminding his readers of the importance of rivers in American history as he travels along the Hudson, Ohio, Missouri, Salmon, and other watercourses. His asides, the kind of remarks youd hear in a roadside diner over a steaming cup of bad coffee, are uniformly interesting. Who knew, for instance, that for many years the Mississippi was considered a tributary of the Missouri and not the other way around? Why does history make so little of Abraham Lincolns time working a flatboat along the Ohio River drainage, where he witnessed firsthand the horrors of slavery? Why was it that until the US Army Corps of Engineers got to tinkering with stream channels, American rivers rarely flooded, rarely caused the catastrophic damage that has shaped the news over the last few years? Writing with an eye for local color and little-examined history (and sneaking in a pages-long sentence worthy of James Joyce in the bargain), Least Heat-Moon turns in a stirring narrative of a journey into landscapes few have seenan America that isnt a big country but hundreds of smaller ones. Vintage Least Heat-Moon, radiant with intelligence and masterful storytelling. (First printing of 250,000; $250,000 ad/promo; author tour) -- Copyright ©1999, Kirkus Associates, LP. All rights reserved.


Chicago Sun-Times
Heat-Moon's prose is clear, straight-forward and lively and his vision unclouded.


Clevland Plain Dealer
...takes us on a lifetime voyage full of imagery, insight and appreciation. (Cleveland Plain Dealer


Review
"This time [Heat Moon] voyages across the country, from Atlantic to Pacific, almost entirely by its rivers, lakes and canals in a small outboard-powered boat, a bold and epic notion that should excite any armchair traveler."


Book Description
In his most ambitious journey ever, William Least Heat-Moon sets off aboard a small boat named Nikawa (river horse in Osage) from the Atlantic at New York Harbor in hopes of entering the Pacific near Astoria, Oregon. He and his companion, Pilotis, struggle to cover some 5,000 watery miles, often following in the wakes of our most famous explorers, from Henry Hudson to Lewis and Clark.

En route, the voyagers confront massive floods, dangerous weather, and their own doubts about whether they can complete the trip. But the hard days yield incomparable pleasures: generous strangers, landscapes untouched since Sacajawea saw them, riverscapes flowing with a lively past, and the growing belief that efforts to protect our lands and waters are beginning to pay off.

Teeming with humanity, humor, and high adventure, River-Horse is an unsentimental and original arteriogram of our nation at the millennium.


Card catalog description
"In River-Horse, the preeminent chronicler of American back roads - who has given us the classics Blue Highways and PrairyErth - recounts his singular voyage on American waters from sea to sea. Along the route, he offers a lyrical shipboard perspective on the country's rivers, lakes, canals, and landscapes."--BOOK JACKET. "In his most ambitious journey ever, Heat-Moon sets off aboard a small boat he named Nikawa ("river horse" in Osage) from the Atlantic at New York Harbor in hopes of entering the Pacific near Astoria, Oregon."--BOOK JACKET. "En route, the voyagers confront massive floods, submerged rocks, dangerous weather, and their own doubts about whether they can complete the trip. But the hard days yield up incomparable pleasures: strangers generous with help and eccentric tales, landscapes unchanged since Sacagawea saw them, riverscapes flowing with a lively past, and the growing belief that efforts to protect our lands and waters are beginning to pay off. And, throughout its course, the expedition enjoys coincidences so breathtaking as to suggest the intervention of a divine and witty Providence."--BOOK JACKET.

FROM OUR EDITORS

On the Road Again

There's no shortage of 20th-century literature about traveling across America in a car. Even William Least Heat-Moon, author of River Horse, wrote a nonfiction work about his search in a beat-up Ford for himself and America (Blue Highways).

But not since the 19th-century adventures of Mark Twain, as told in Life on the Mississippi, have readers had the chance to vicariously take a journey across America by water rather than by road. River Horse, a voyage across America's waterways, is a return to a bygone literary tradition. Following in the footsteps of America's greatest explorers, from Henry Hudson to Lewis and Clark, Heat-Moon traveled around the waterways of America in a 22-foot cruiser boat called Nikawa (Osage for "river horse").

Heat-Moon covers 5,000-plus miles in four months, departing from Astoria, New York, and completing his journey in Astoria, Oregon. RIVER HORSE completes Heat-Moon's trilogy of explorations of America and the American people, which he began with Blue Highways and Prairyerth.

River Horse falls short of providing any great insight into the people whom Heat-Moon encounters along America's waterways, but that's okay. Instead, River Horse is a travel book of the first order because, very simply, it is a book about traveling. Many others have gone off in search of the spirit of the American people and written about their findings, but no one in the history of the world has taken the trip that Heat-Moon has taken, and that alone makes River Horse a fascinating read.

Heat-Moon tells us that after having visited almost every state in the continental United States ("except for a handful in the Deep South, and those I'll get to soon"), he realized that traveling across the country along America's rivers would provide him with a unique vantage point.

Because there's no aquatic equivalent of Route 66, it is almost impossible to see America wholly by water, which presents Heat-Moon with a formidable challenge. With meticulous planning, however, Heat-Moon devised a way for a small boat -- enter the scrappy Nikawa -- to navigate the path from the Atlantic to the Pacific.

Heat-Moon is joined by Pilotus, a compilation of characters who aid Heat-Moon (a.ka. William Trogdon) along the way. Heat-Moon admits up front that Pilotus, "my Pilades, my Pythia, my Pytheas," is the better writer of the two, which is why Pilotus gets all the good lines in the book. For example, Pilotus says to Heat-Moon about the journey: "To go from Gravesend Bay through the Graveyard of the Great Lakes and on to the Graveyard of the Pacific, that's, well, a grave undertaking."

Although River Horse is a work rich in spirit, it lacks an emotional component or impetus to its narrative, save Pilotus's insightful, if not quippy, commentary. It's understandable that Heat-Moon would want to remove himself from the narrative to avoid detracting from the magnitude of his journey. But Heat-Moon overshoots a little here, and as a result he is absent. And, at his worst, the narrator assumes a disembodied, pedagogical voice that is more reminiscent of Cliff Claven, the know-it-all mailman from the television show "Cheers," than a Captain Ahab or even a Tom Joad.

Great travel writing pays equal time to the mechanics of the journey and the experience of the person taking the journey. By that standard, River Horse is not great travel writing. Because of the nature of the traveling involved, River Horse is nothing less than a marvelous story of traveling.

The tale of each river that Heat-Moon crosses is rich with a legacy of Americana. Whether Heat-Moon is discussing Abraham Lincoln's introduction to the law or the pollution of America's waterways, he speaks like an old hand, calmed by the wisdom of his experience but no less enthused about what he has to share with his readers.

Heat-Moon's ambitious journey across America is the perfect antidote to end-of-the-century angst about what the future will hold. It's nice, almost soothing, to take a journey back in time with Heat-Moon, a journey that conveys a firm grounding in America's roots and gives insight into elements of the American spirit and the American landscape.

—Emily Burg

Emily Burg is a New York-based journalist who has been to 18 of the 50 states.

FROM THE PUBLISHER

In River-Horse, the pre-eminent chronicler of American back roads—who has given us the classics Blue Highways and PrairyErth—recounts his singular voyage on American waters from sea to sea. Along the route, he offers a lyrical shipboard perspective on the country's rivers, lakes, canals, and landscapes.

In his most ambitious journey ever, Heat-Moon sets off aboard a small boat he named Nikawa ("River Horse" in Osage) from the Atlantic at New York Harbor in hopes of entering the Pacific near Astoria, Oregon.

En route, the voyagers confront massive floods, submerged rocks, dangerous weather, and their own doubts about whether they can complete the trip. But the hard days yield up incomparable pleasures: strangers generous with help and eccentric tales, landscapes unchanged since Sacagawea saw them, riverscapes flowing with a lively past, and the growing belief that efforts to protect our lands and waters are beginning to pay off. And, throughout its course, the expedition enjoys coincidences so breathtaking as to suggest the intervention of a divine and witty Providence.

FROM THE CRITICS

Publishers Weekly

Writing under the name Heat-Moon (Blue Highways), William Trogdon once again sets out across America, this time propelled chiefly by a dual-outboard boat dubbed Nikawa, "River Horse" in Osage. In this hardy craft, he and a small crew attempt to travel more than 5000 miles by inland waterways from the Atlantic to the Pacific in a single season. Citing 19th-century travelogues and dredging odd bits of the rivers' past, Heat-Moon conveys the significance of passing "beneath a bridge that has looked down on the stovepipe hat of Abraham Lincoln, the mustache of Mark Twain, the sooty funnels of a hundred thousand steamboats." Though at first he is struck by how river travel is "so primordial, so unchanged in its path," he later notes that the only thing Lewis and Clark would recognize on a dammed and severely altered stretch of the Missouri River is the bedeviling prairie wind. But what remains constant for him is "the greatest theme in our history: the journey." It is an American theme, though by "westering" and persistently believing that the voyage is destined to succeed, Heat-Moon seems to be on dangerous waters for someone who is part Native American. But his romantic attachment to the nature of exploration doesn't occlude his indictments of pollution, overzealous river management and aboriginal displacement. The book, though largely engaging, is not without its slow spots, which Heat-Moon avers are true to the trip's nature: "the river is no blue highway because the river removes reverie." Heat-Moon has written a rich chronicle of a massive and meaningful undertaking. Unlike Blue Highways, however, the focus is not so much on people and places as on the trials of a journey that bypasses them in favor of reaching its destination. Illus. 250,000 first printing; $250,000 ad/promo; 13-city author tour. (Oct.) Copyright 1999 Cahners Business Information.

"This time [Heat Moon] voyages across the country, from Atlantic to Pacific, almost entirely by its rivers, lakes and canals in a small outboard-powered boat, a bold and epic notion that should excite any armchair traveler."

Library Journal

Adventurer Heat-Moon carefully planned an unusual voyage from the Atlantic Ocean to the Pacific, via American lakes and rivers. Naming his boat Nikawa, which means "river horse" in the Osage Indian language, Heat-Moon set off from New York City harbor with his friend Pilotis. Using a diary format, he talks about places they visit, problems they encounter, and people they meet. The characters are basically colorful but lack charisma. Conversations/comments mostly reveal a rather banal, forced cleverness. Boating and travel quotations are woven in along with considerable profanity and several gruesome stories. Technically, the tapes are fine. Jay O. Sanders's clear voice, inflection, and overall talent improve the often-stilted material. A map showing the route of the trip would have been an interesting addition. A marginal purchase for adult travel collections.--Carolyn Alexander, Brigadoon Lib., Salinas, CA Copyright 2000 Cahners Business Information.\

AudioFile

Here is a colorful account of the author's attempt to travel by water over the width of the North American continent. It is lyrical, albeit unsentimental and, one suspects, highly fictionalized, though occasional knotty circumlocutions mar the narrative. Sanders does his best with these and lends his virile presence to the rest. Y.R. ￯﾿ﾽ AudioFile, Portland, Maine

John Pearson - BusinessWeek