Log in to Webshots

Login

"The River At the Center of the World"

mikdbow (Premium member) > albums > China OAT Yangtze River

Get Adobe Flash player

Connect with Facebook to Continue

Hello, facebook user. logout

You are signed in to your Facebook account. Share this photo by posting it on your wall, or by choosing a friend below and posting it on their wall. (one friend at a time)

Album Info:

The River at the Center of the World" By Simon Winchester Henry Holt and Company, Inc. 400 pages, Nonfiction There is a familiar literary impulse that has driven many a travel writer to climb, traverse, circumnavigate, or otherwise negotiate the dimensions of some significant topographical feature -- a continent, an ocean, perhaps even the earth itself -- and to submit his or her journals to a publisher so that all the world might share in the ordeal. In the wrong hands, such pilgrimages can lead to gimmicky volumes that seem motivated less by true journalistic inspiration than by the need to convince a tight-fisted editor to hand over a generous book advance. Not so in the case of Simon Winchester's epic account of a journey up the Yangtze, which flows through 3,900 miles of geographically diverse and culturally rich territory from the Tibetan highlands to the East China Sea. Winchester brings impressive credentials to the undertaking: a trained geologist's eye, a nose for history, a ruthless disregard for Chinese bureaucrats and a damn-the-torpedoes attitude that propels him headlong into the many obstacles -- physical, cultural and official -- that lie in his path. The resulting narrative is a highly palatable blend of history and geography, reflecting years of voracious research, woven together with entertaining anecdotes and observations from the tortuous excursion through modern China. Winchester himself comes across in the book as a blithe spirit, and something of a playboy who shows no restraint in his admiration for the many attractive hotel clerks, waitresses, secretaries and peasant girls he encounters. But his passion for the river and for the well-being of the 500 million people who live on its banks shines through, particularly in his look at current controversies surrounding the construction of the massive Three Gorges hydroelectric dam. When completed, the project will flood the celebrated gorges all the way to Chongqing, displacing millions of people and permanently altering the ecological balance of the entire Yangtze basin. Winchester's considerable skill as a spinner of yarns sometimes leaves one wondering if he has taken certain liberties with the historical record, or embellished certain facts of his journey for literary effect. But before we condemn the author for stretching the truth, let us remember that according to official Chinese policy, Chairman Mao was 70 percent right and only 30 percent wrong; if the engineer of the disastrous Great Leap Forward and an effective proponent of the Three Gorges dam can be judged so lightly, it seems only fair to tolerate a touch of poetic license in this well-crafted and inspiring tale.

Sample Email

Below is what we'll send to your friends to invite them - edit or remove the optional note.

No comments so far...

To be able to leave a comment please Log in or Sign up.