Originally published: London: Picador, 2010.

Reviews

"The central work of Raban's life might be described as an effort to determine what America is like ... But along with that, the reader notes, big water draws from Raban a kind of genius for natural description." --Thomas Powers, "The New York Review of Books"
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"The Northwest should feel itself lucky to have found a writer as fabulous--filled to overflowing with stories, meaning, and insight--as the landscape itself demands ... It has been one of the great pleasures of the past twenty years to watch Raban discover this landscape for himself ... to see [it] and its people with a clarify unmatched by most natives." --Charles Petersen, "Barnes and Noble" review
"Raban [here] showcases his craftsmanship as a writer and his bona fides as an intellectual. Every word is impeccably chosen, every metaphor meticulously selected.... [His] virtues are a writer are virtually unrivaled when it comes to explaining our relationships with landscapes and nature, and he's unrivaled, perio