''Goodbye to a River'' is a book by John Graves, published in 1960. It is a "semi-historical" account of a canoe trip made by the author during the fall of 1957 down a stretch of the

Brazos River The Brazos River ( , ), called the ''Río de los Brazos de Dios'' (translated as "The River of the Arms of God") by early Spanish explorers, is the 11th-longest river in the United States at from its headwater source at the head of Blackwater Dr ...

in North Central Texas, between Possum Kingdom Dam and Lake Whitney. The book presents both the author's account of the trip itself and numerous stories about the history and settlement of the area around the river and of North Central Texas. The title refers to Graves' childhood association with the river and the country surrounding it, and his fear of the "drowning" effect that a proposed series of flood-control dams (most notably, Lake Granbury) would have on the river. Only three of the dams were built on the river, but at one time up to thirteen were proposed at various locations along its course to the

Gulf of Mexico The Gulf of Mexico ( es, Golfo de México) is an oceanic basin, ocean basin and a marginal sea of the Atlantic Ocean, largely surrounded by the North American continent. It is bounded on the northeast, north and northwest by the Gulf Coast of ...

. The success of ''Goodbye to a River'' is often cited as a major reason that the proposed dams were never built. The book is acclaimed as a work of both

conservationism The conservation movement, also known as nature conservation, is a political, environmental, and social movement that seeks to manage and protect natural resources, including animal, fungus, and plant species as well as their habitat for the f ...

and

history History (derived ) is the systematic study and the documentation of the human activity. The time period of event before the History of writing#Inventions of writing, invention of writing systems is considered prehistory. "History" is an umbr ...

and has been compared to ''

Walden ''Walden'' (; first published in 1854 as ''Walden; or, Life in the Woods'') is a book by American transcendentalist writer Henry David Thoreau. The text is a reflection upon the author's simple living in natural surroundings. The work is part ...

'' by

Henry David Thoreau Henry David Thoreau (July 12, 1817May 6, 1862) was an American naturalist, essayist, poet, and philosopher. A leading Transcendentalism, transcendentalist, he is best known for his book ''Walden'', a reflection upon simple living in natural su ...

References

External links

*{{cite news , title=Goodbye to a River: Behind the Scenes , author=Dick Holland , work=The Austin Chronicle , date=2000-11-10 , url=http://www.austinchronicle.com/gyrobase/Issue/story?oid=oid%3A79280 , accessdate=2009-01-24
Fifth Triennial Helen Warren DeGolyer Competition and Exhibition for American Bookbinding
1960 books Brazos River Alfred A. Knopf books Novels set in Texas