Seven Rivers: A Journey Through the Currents of Human History

'History at its most scintillating' Nicholas CraneRivers are the great natural arteries that run through our lives. We have navigated them, dammed them and worshipped at them.From the ancient ecosystems of Egypt to the sinking cities of Shanghai and London, what we do with our rivers tells us about who has power and what we value.Now, when a passion for wild swimming is flourishing but the Amazon is on fire and some of our major river systems are dying, it has never been clearer that rivers are intertwined with humanity at our best and our worst. Seven Rivers is story of the Nile, Danube, Niger, Mississippi, Ganges, Yangtze and the Thames.It is a story of imperial frontiers, alluvial gold, kidnappings, slavery, anticolonialism and creation myths.It is about those who've lived and died on these rivers and their endless capacity for invention: their lotus pools and hanging gardens, their gigantic canal systems and elaborate fishing rituals, their absolute powers and their sly rebellions.