Holding Back the River by Tyler Kelley

Reading something by a person you know and interact with is a balancing act. I wanted to approach this book with no bias for the best chance to be honest, but I have to admit I was hesitant as non-fiction is not necessarily my typical reading fare.

So while a copy sat on my coffee table as I vacillated reading it, I realized I had also made the request for the ARC on Netgalley, and I owed the publisher a review. 

And am I so glad I overcame my hesitancy. This book was astonishing. I know the bare minimum about infrastructure in America. With most of that revolving around roads and the taxes that pay to fix them because they have impacted me directly at one point or another. 

Besides that lack of understanding, I have no real knowledge of the history of our infrastructure. After reading this book, I really feel that is a gaping hole in my education. I had made some serious assumptions about river transport as roads and airfare were developed. This book was a kick in the teeth to how goods are moved from coast to coast.

What really made this book an easy read for me, though, was its feeling of an essay I would have read during my English undergraduate. The similarities drawn to Mark Twain throughout the entire narrative were exactly how a literary doctoral thesis would have been formed. It made the book enjoyable. I felt for the people the way the author wants you to connect to those across America that fight this fight nobody seems to know about.

But they should. The United States are more connected then we are getting presented to us, and we should really understand what effects us in all the infrastructure, not just one politically motivated segment. I have already recommended this to all my co-librarians, but I now recommend it out to the worldwide web.