Riverman: An American Odyssey
Ben McGrath
(Author)
Description
"This quietly profound book belongs on the shelf next to Jon Krakauer's Into the Wild." --The New York Times The riveting true story of Dick Conant, an American folk hero who, over the course of more than twenty years, canoed solo thousands of miles of American rivers--and then disappeared near the Outer Banks of North Carolina. This book "contains everything: adventure, mystery, travelogue, and unforgettable characters" (David Grann, best-selling author of Killers of the Flower Moon). For decades, Dick Conant paddled the rivers of America, covering the Mississippi, Yellowstone, Ohio, Hudson, as well as innumerable smaller tributaries. These solo excursions were epic feats of planning, perseverance, and physical courage. At the same time, Conant collected people wherever he went, creating a vast network of friends and acquaintances who would forever remember this brilliant and charming man even after a single meeting. Ben McGrath, a staff writer at The New Yorker, was one of those people. In 2014 he met Conant by chance just north of New York City as Conant paddled down the Hudson, headed for Florida. McGrath wrote a widely read article about their encounter, and when Conant's canoe washed up a few months later, without any sign of his body, McGrath set out to find the people whose lives Conant had touched--to capture a remarkable life lived far outside the staid confines of modern existence. Riverman is a moving portrait of a complex and fascinating man who was as troubled as he was charismatic, who struggled with mental illness and self-doubt, and was ultimately unable to fashion a stable life for himself; who traveled alone and yet thrived on connection and brought countless people together in his wake. It is also a portrait of an America we rarely see: a nation of unconventional characters, small river towns, and long-forgotten waterways.Product Details
Price
$29.00
$26.97
Publisher
Knopf Publishing Group
Publish Date
April 05, 2022
Pages
272
Dimensions
5.9 X 8.3 X 1.3 inches | 1.05 pounds
Language
English
Type
Hardcover
EAN/UPC
9780451494009
BISAC Categories:
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About the Author
BEN McGRATH is a longtime staff writer for The New Yorker. He lives outside New York City in a small town on the Hudson, with his wife and two children. This is his first book.
Reviews
Exquisitely written and deeply reported, Riverman is a gem of a book. It contains everything: adventure, mystery, travelogue, and unforgettable characters. Most of all, it illuminates the wonderful curiosities of life.
--David Grann, bestselling author of Killers of the Flower Moon "Riverman is as miraculous and hopeful as its protagonist, the Zelig of America's waterways, Dick Conant. It's a great book for people like me, who read Into the Wild but have shed our self-destructive wanderlust and settled into middle-age. This book will make you want to buy a canoe and spend less time on Instagram."
--Emma Straub, bestselling author of All Adults Here "This is a beautifully told and near-mythical tale of one man's quest to find peace through communion with nature, and through perpetual motion. My heart was deeply stirred by Riverman, and by Ben McGrath's brilliant, clear, and humane storytelling. This one will stay with me for a long time."
--Elizabeth Gilbert, bestselling author of City of Girls McGrath's reconstruction of Dick Conant's tangled career and yearning soul is so meticulous, so obsessive, that Conant comes to life on the page as vividly as any character in American literature. Conant wanted his story told. Here it is, in all its pathos and sheer unlikeliness. You will never see rivers and the towns on their banks the same way after reading Riverman. Ditto, I predict, for expansive, raggedy strangers.
--William Finnegan, bestselling author of Pulitzer Prize winner Barbarian Days The captivating story of an inveterate river wanderer who left a mark on many he met along his journeys before suddenly vanishing... A paean to eccentricity and endurance and a study of a life that changed the chronicler's own perceptions. McGrath's writing is measured and confident, the product of a journalist's persistence in investigating the truth behind so colorful and contradictory a figure... A memorable and intoxicating exploration of what we make of those who reinvent themselves.
--Kirkus, starred McGrath retraces the remarkable life of this gentle man whose life on the water touched so many. Riverman honors a free-spirited American naturalist and modern-day explorer (a blend of Forrest Gump, Huck Finn, and even Don Quixote) who shucked a conventional lifestyle for complete freedom, at significant personal cost. A masterpiece of narrative nonfiction.
--Booklist, starred An intriguing character study for anyone interested in the life of a man with an adventurous spirit and an engaging personality, who collected friends across the country."
--Library Journal
--David Grann, bestselling author of Killers of the Flower Moon "Riverman is as miraculous and hopeful as its protagonist, the Zelig of America's waterways, Dick Conant. It's a great book for people like me, who read Into the Wild but have shed our self-destructive wanderlust and settled into middle-age. This book will make you want to buy a canoe and spend less time on Instagram."
--Emma Straub, bestselling author of All Adults Here "This is a beautifully told and near-mythical tale of one man's quest to find peace through communion with nature, and through perpetual motion. My heart was deeply stirred by Riverman, and by Ben McGrath's brilliant, clear, and humane storytelling. This one will stay with me for a long time."
--Elizabeth Gilbert, bestselling author of City of Girls McGrath's reconstruction of Dick Conant's tangled career and yearning soul is so meticulous, so obsessive, that Conant comes to life on the page as vividly as any character in American literature. Conant wanted his story told. Here it is, in all its pathos and sheer unlikeliness. You will never see rivers and the towns on their banks the same way after reading Riverman. Ditto, I predict, for expansive, raggedy strangers.
--William Finnegan, bestselling author of Pulitzer Prize winner Barbarian Days The captivating story of an inveterate river wanderer who left a mark on many he met along his journeys before suddenly vanishing... A paean to eccentricity and endurance and a study of a life that changed the chronicler's own perceptions. McGrath's writing is measured and confident, the product of a journalist's persistence in investigating the truth behind so colorful and contradictory a figure... A memorable and intoxicating exploration of what we make of those who reinvent themselves.
--Kirkus, starred McGrath retraces the remarkable life of this gentle man whose life on the water touched so many. Riverman honors a free-spirited American naturalist and modern-day explorer (a blend of Forrest Gump, Huck Finn, and even Don Quixote) who shucked a conventional lifestyle for complete freedom, at significant personal cost. A masterpiece of narrative nonfiction.
--Booklist, starred An intriguing character study for anyone interested in the life of a man with an adventurous spirit and an engaging personality, who collected friends across the country."
--Library Journal
