Boats On A River

The dusty, dirty, nearly torn-to-shreds, beat-to-death book of adventures you'd pull out of your satchel while crossing the open prairie by wagon train. Or, before and after work on the seven train. History is a trail of unexpected minutia and unfamiliar people you're ill-prepared to meet. Very far away, but everybody is traveling the same speed. Inspired by the Americana of James Fenimore Cooper and Charles Portis, writers who rendered the gritty, immersive realism of characters driven by urgency, traversing open country. Mythology floods in on its own. Maybe a touch of the quizzically plausible Terry Gilliam. Out on the river, guts and perseverance stay the course. Downriver, the destination.BOATS ON A RIVERUnexpectedly drawn into the river's restless gauntlet, an elderly man and a teenage boy-two contemporary, mismatched outsiders-discover the grit and the willful determination to prevail.Newly elected Representative Franklin Knight is a bit of a dreamer. On his way to Washington, a stop at one of America's great rivers might offer an enlightening experience. With the twelve-year-old son of the Winnebago's driver at the river's edge, Knight suffers a mild episode of his chronic heart condition. With a bit of luck, a small boat appears, and they're off to get medical attention. Soon enough, the men in the boat reveal themselves to be deserters from the British Navy-part of the far west campaigns of the American Revolution in the Mississippi Valley. With this perplexing contradiction, the treacherous journey begins.Every history is a story, always told for the first time.