Northwest Passage: The Great Columbia River

"Dietrich's measures, thoughtful book views the Columbia through a successoin of different lenses--as a bountiful fishery for the Indians, as a snag-ridden and nearly impassable highway for the early white explorers, as a hugely powerful manufacturer of hydroelectricity, as a source of irrigation for farmers, as the town drain for the mining and nuclear weapons industries. His Columbia is really a woven braid of the many rivers of the fisherman, the farmer, the engineer, the towboat operator, the explorer, the industrialist." -Jonathan Raban, author of Old Glory

"A wonderful, disturbing and though-provoking history of the Columbia River, Northwest Passage is a remarkable book, first of all in its scope and complexity. Here is a fine blend of natural history, of human history, and of political history." -Washington Post Book World

"An engaging case study of a whole bundle of environmental and social issues (pollution, hydropower politics, Indian rights, resource economics) that should matter to people all over the country." -New York Times Book Review