Seven Rivers

A Journey Through the Currents of Human History

Vanessa Taylor

$65

Hardback

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English

Weidenfeld & Nicolson
12 August 2025

Physical geography & topography; Environmental science, engineering & technology; The natural world, country life & pets

Rivers 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. At its heart are the empire-builders of the Chinese dynasties, Romans and Hindus and their river gods, the Habsburgs and Ottomans, Mughal emperors, the people of the Niger from Mali's golden age to today, struggles of life and death on the Mississippi, and the dethroning of the British on the rivers of their unruly imperial subjects.

This is the story of us, in seven rivers.

By: Vanessa Taylor
Imprint: Weidenfeld & Nicolson
Country of Publication: United Kingdom
Dimensions: Height: 236mm, Width: 154mm, Spine: 42mm
Weight: 660g
ISBN: 9781474617222
ISBN 10: 1474617220
Pages: 448
Publication Date: 12 August 2025
Audience: General/trade , College/higher education , Professional and scholarly , ELT Advanced , Primary
Format: Hardback
Publisher's Status: Active

Vanessa Taylor is a historian of rivers, water and environmental history at the University of Greenwich. She has published extensively, written for BBC History Magazine and appeared on Channel 4, and is one of the foremost experts on the history of the river Thames. She was raised in the watersheds of the Mersey, Thames, Los Angeles and Stour rivers, and now lives in London.

Reviews for Seven Rivers: A Journey Through the Currents of Human History

This is history at its most scintillating...What a magnificent feat of imagination and of research to tell the human story through the beauty of water. With world rivers in crisis, this book should be essential reading for policy makers. * Nicholas Crane, author of The Making of the British Landscape * A fast flowing and rich human history of our world rivers. Wonderful! * Jack Cornish, author of THE LOST PATHS *