In this social and ecological account of the Chicago River, Libby Hill tells the story of how a sluggish waterway emptying into Lake Michigan became central to the creation of Chicago as a major metropolis and transportation hub.

"The river has seen it all, done it all, carried it all," writes David Solzman. "Its current whispers of the past even as it rushes into the future. Those who know the river and its connected streams know Chicago in an elemental way. In a strong sense, the river is Chicago. Follow the river and travel into the soul of the city." The river is indeed the soul of the city--it runs through the heart of downtown, and it is a vehicle for both pleasure and the industry that keeps Chicago humming.

In Prairie Passage, the canal's 150(th) anniversary is commemorated in some 250 stunning photographs, many of them by the renowned Edward Ranney, with a preface from the always fascinating William Least Heat-Moon. Tony Hiss's text celebrates the saga of the once mighty waterway and characterizes the development of the Illinois & Michigan Canal National Heritage Corridor over the past fifteen years as indicative of how America has come of age and how it is renewing itself by settling down and appreciating it.