Headwaters: A Celebration of Alabama Rivers by Beth Maynor Young

Product Details

Synopsis

Headwaters is a breathtaking portrait of Alabama rivers. From their primal seepages in the Appalachian highlands or along the broad Chunnenuggee Hills, Alabama’s rivers carve through the rocky uplands and down the Fall Line rapids, then ease across the coastal plain to their eventual confluence with the Gulf of Mexico.
 
Beth Maynor Young’s 155 full-color photographs constitute art through a lens; the colors, the light, and the angles all converge for a tender praise of her subject. Her stunning visuals are supported by tantalizing captions and introductory text from John C. Hall, a master field trip leader. Together, they tell a proud story of the native beauty and complexity of these Alabama watercourses that shepherd fully 20% of the nation’s fresh water to sea.
 
The intimate close-up of verdant mosses or pebbled beaches pulls one into their space just as surely as does a sweeping scene of a watershed valley or a sparkling sunset over water. We all become eager listeners and observers on this guided “paddle to the Gulf,” drinking in the peace, delight, and beauty offered by the experience. At the end, we know we won’t be the same as before beginning the journey.
 
In addition to being a celebration of their richness, Headwaters serves as a call to greater stewardship of these riverine resources. Conservation sidebars describe the current efforts in this direction and encourage further study and protection. This book tells us, in glorious color and instructive word, why we’ll always treasure these wonderful rivers.

Raymond Bial - Library Journal

Blending fine photographs and absorbing text, this absolutely stunning book portrays the rivers of Alabama, from their sources in the Appalachian highlands and along the rocky Chunnenuggee Hills to the coastal plain. Conservation photographer Young's 155 images are exquisite in their breadth, detail, and sensitivity. Yet this book goes far beyond fine photography with the lively, informative text of naturalist Hall (curator, Black Belt Museum, Univ. of West Alabama), becoming a photo-essay that tells a wonderful story of our past, present, and future. The detailed text is well organized into broad chapters: "Headwaters," "The Alabama Uplands," "The Fall Line," and "The Coastal Plain." As Rick Middleton (executive dir., Southern Environmental Law Ctr.) states in his foreword, this book "simplifies the complex and gets at the heart of our connection to nature and place." VERDICT Carefully edited and designed, this book expresses a powerful theme about conservation and our stewardship of precious natural resources that goes far beyond state and region. Highly recommended, it will appeal to broad audiences—photographers from amateurs to professionals, conservationists, environmentalists, and others who simply enjoy nature and wildlife.—Raymond Bial, First Light Photography, Urbana, IL

Biography

Beth Maynor Young is an accomplished conservation photographer who has spent much of her life chronicling the natural beauty and remnant wild places of the contemporary South.
 
John C. Hall is Curator of the Black Belt Museum, University of West Alabama, Livingston, Alabama, and former Chief of Natural History at The University of Alabama Museum of Natural History.