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Brave the Wild River: The Untold Story of Two Women Who Mapped the Botany of the Grand Canyon
In the summer of 1938, botanists Elzada Clover and Lois Jotter set off down the Colorado River, accompanied by an ambitious expedition leader and three amateur boatmen. With its churning rapids, sheer cliffs, and boat-shattering boulders, the Colorado was famed as the most dangerous river in the world. But for Clover and Jotter, it held a tantalizing appeal: no one had surveyed the Grand Canyon’s plants, and they were determined to be the first.
Through the vibrant letters and diaries of the two women, science journalist Melissa L. Sevigny traces their forty-three-day journey, during which they ran rapids, chased a runaway boat, and turned their harshest critic into an ally. Their story is a spellbinding adventure of two women who risked their lives to make an unprecedented botanical survey of a little-known corner of the American West at a time when human influences had begun to change it forever.
Through the vibrant letters and diaries of the two women, science journalist Melissa L. Sevigny traces their forty-three-day journey, during which they ran rapids, chased a runaway boat, and turned their harshest critic into an ally. Their story is a spellbinding adventure of two women who risked their lives to make an unprecedented botanical survey of a little-known corner of the American West at a time when human influences had begun to change it forever.
304 pages, Hardcover
First published May 23, 2023
About the author
Melissa L. Sevigny
4 books89 followersMelissa L. Sevigny grew up in Tucson, Arizona where she fell in love with the Sonoran Desert’s ecology, geology and dark desert skies. Her lyrical nonfiction explores the intersections of science, nature, and history, with a focus on the American Southwest. Sevigny has worked as a science communicator in the fields of planetary science, western water policy, and sustainable agriculture. She has degrees in environmental science and creative writing, and volunteers as the interviews editor for Terrain.org. She’s currently a full time journalist in Flagstaff, Arizona.
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 638 reviews
September 5, 2023
This is a story of adventure, pushing boundaries, disregarding gender norms, and setting historical precedents. Within 300 pages, you are taken through a death-defying journey of the little-explored rapids of the Colorado river, you eddy at times over botanical descriptives and ecological backdrops before shoring up to learn more about the history of environmental science and the Grand Canyon National Park.
In 1938 Elzada Clover and Lois Jotter join four other men, across three boats, to journey 600 miles down the Colorado river in the hope of collecting and surveying its plant life. For the women, this trip was to provide an exciting opportunity to further their studies and contribute to the fast-evolving science of botany. The men too, each had their own agendas in making the trip. However, only one man, the expedition leader, had any sort of rafting experience. In fact, by 1938, there had only been about a dozen trips made, since it was first attempted some 70 years prior. That small handful of successful expeditions contained only men. When the rafting party set out, the media ran riot with harbingers of disaster and death and the complete foolhardiness of women being allowed at all, 'Women have their place in the world, but they do not belong in the Canyon of the Colorado'. Unfortunately, this dramatic publicity overshadowed and virtually dismissed the science that initiated the endeavour. It did not, however, preclude the two women from carefully documenting and collecting the plants; work which proved invaluable as future generations sought to redress the balance of the river's ecosystem. 'Before them, men...saw the river for what it could be, harnessed for human use. Clover and Jotter saw it as it was, a living system....'
Melissa Sevigny really brought this story to life with her descriptive and evocative language. A story that could have been bogged down with botanical, Latin names, is given context and life as we ride down the rapids and learn the history of the place. The grandiose achievement of Clover and Jotter being the first white women to have successfully journeyed down the Colorado river is nicely tempered with the value of their resulting scientific contribution. This book pleasantly surprised me and I'd recommend it to not just readers interested in science and botany but to anyone who enjoys women's non-fiction and their stories.
Thank you NetGalley and W W Norton & Company for the opportunity to read and review this book.
In 1938 Elzada Clover and Lois Jotter join four other men, across three boats, to journey 600 miles down the Colorado river in the hope of collecting and surveying its plant life. For the women, this trip was to provide an exciting opportunity to further their studies and contribute to the fast-evolving science of botany. The men too, each had their own agendas in making the trip. However, only one man, the expedition leader, had any sort of rafting experience. In fact, by 1938, there had only been about a dozen trips made, since it was first attempted some 70 years prior. That small handful of successful expeditions contained only men. When the rafting party set out, the media ran riot with harbingers of disaster and death and the complete foolhardiness of women being allowed at all, 'Women have their place in the world, but they do not belong in the Canyon of the Colorado'. Unfortunately, this dramatic publicity overshadowed and virtually dismissed the science that initiated the endeavour. It did not, however, preclude the two women from carefully documenting and collecting the plants; work which proved invaluable as future generations sought to redress the balance of the river's ecosystem. 'Before them, men...saw the river for what it could be, harnessed for human use. Clover and Jotter saw it as it was, a living system....'
Melissa Sevigny really brought this story to life with her descriptive and evocative language. A story that could have been bogged down with botanical, Latin names, is given context and life as we ride down the rapids and learn the history of the place. The grandiose achievement of Clover and Jotter being the first white women to have successfully journeyed down the Colorado river is nicely tempered with the value of their resulting scientific contribution. This book pleasantly surprised me and I'd recommend it to not just readers interested in science and botany but to anyone who enjoys women's non-fiction and their stories.
Thank you NetGalley and W W Norton & Company for the opportunity to read and review this book.
October 5, 2023
Near the conclusion of the book, the author asks, "What does "wild" mean, anyway?" And decides: "A wild place isn't one unchanged by humans. It's a place that changes us."
This is a tightly woven nonfictional account of two women who braved the "wild river" (the Colorado River) in 1938 to do something they felt was important, despite the risk to their own lives. They were driven to contribute to the field of botany. "Botany alone gave women the freedom to go outside."
Let me say their full names: Elzada Clover and Lois Jotter.
Sevigny has done a massive amount of research and it shows. The result is that the reader feels they are taking the trip with the river rafters, seeing the cliffs and plants, hearing the rapids, tasting the grit in the food and water. There is humor, too: it's decided not to name a boat after one of the wives, for after all, her last name is Drown.
I wanted to read this book not just for the adventure but the botany aspect. I love anything about botany, and I learned much. Sevigny makes sure to map the canyon walls and springs and sand bars through the many plants they encounter: mesquite, catclaw acacia (the wait-a-minute bush because it catches the clothing of the passersby), prickly pears. She includes the history of the plants as well. Cacti once had leaves, but learned to adapt to the hot environment by rolling up those leaves into thick spines that held water and protected the plant from being eaten or trampled on.
The river, with a "hundred personalities," is a character in the book. A character the women come to love, especially Elzada. Along the journey, these independent women battle the men as well, in terms of expectations and roles. Even the media does its job to minimize the importance of their research, mainly commenting on their looks.
Luckily, we find out that their work does survive and make an impact.
"Their story matters."
Yes, it does. And Sevigny should be thanked for bringing these brave women out of the scientific shadows and into the light of mainstream readership. Highly recommend for readers who love the wild, nature, adventure, stories of strong women, and biography.
This is a tightly woven nonfictional account of two women who braved the "wild river" (the Colorado River) in 1938 to do something they felt was important, despite the risk to their own lives. They were driven to contribute to the field of botany. "Botany alone gave women the freedom to go outside."
Let me say their full names: Elzada Clover and Lois Jotter.
Sevigny has done a massive amount of research and it shows. The result is that the reader feels they are taking the trip with the river rafters, seeing the cliffs and plants, hearing the rapids, tasting the grit in the food and water. There is humor, too: it's decided not to name a boat after one of the wives, for after all, her last name is Drown.
I wanted to read this book not just for the adventure but the botany aspect. I love anything about botany, and I learned much. Sevigny makes sure to map the canyon walls and springs and sand bars through the many plants they encounter: mesquite, catclaw acacia (the wait-a-minute bush because it catches the clothing of the passersby), prickly pears. She includes the history of the plants as well. Cacti once had leaves, but learned to adapt to the hot environment by rolling up those leaves into thick spines that held water and protected the plant from being eaten or trampled on.
The river, with a "hundred personalities," is a character in the book. A character the women come to love, especially Elzada. Along the journey, these independent women battle the men as well, in terms of expectations and roles. Even the media does its job to minimize the importance of their research, mainly commenting on their looks.
Luckily, we find out that their work does survive and make an impact.
"Their story matters."
Yes, it does. And Sevigny should be thanked for bringing these brave women out of the scientific shadows and into the light of mainstream readership. Highly recommend for readers who love the wild, nature, adventure, stories of strong women, and biography.
December 16, 2022
A fascinating glimpse of the Colorado River before Glen Canyon Dam—whip-smart, funny, meticulously researched, and beautifully written. Required reading for anyone interested in the Grand Canyon, river running, and the ingenuity of plants. Brave the Wild River examines the challenges women in science faced in the 1930s—and still face today—but above all it's a story about what it means to risk everything, to follow your heart into the great unknown. A wild ride fueled by passion, grit, courage, luck, and intellectual curiosity that should inspire us all.
January 25, 2024
When I was 10 I saw the Disney movie "Ten Who Dared", about the first documented descent of the Colorado River, by one-armed Civil War veteran John Wesley Powell and his crew of 9. Now that I think of it, this was probably the beginning of my fascination with tales of adventure, though today I'm more likely to read than to watch films about them. (Note: My own white-water rafting experiences have been limited and extremely tame; I know just enough to say that although the water may be higher in the spring, it's also a lot colder.)
Few others attempted to navigate the Colorado between the time of Powell's trip in 1869 and the journey undertaken by botanists Elzada Clover and Lois Jotter nearly 60 years later, in 1938. While Powell had made records of the geology and history of the area, no one had considered documenting the plant life growing along the riverbed and canyon walls. Clover, a PhD from the University of Michigan, and Jotter, one of her graduate students, set about to correct that. And to be the first women to successfully "boat" the length of the Colorado.
They engaged an expedition leader who had experience traveling some sections of the Green and Colorado Rivers, and were accompanied by a male graduate student and a couple of rivermen to man the boats. Halfway through the trip, three of the men had to be replaced, but Clover and Jotter went the distance. Along the way they collected 200 specimens and identified 4 new species of cactus.
I probably don't need to point out that this was a challenging undertaking. The boats were untested, the camping equipment was primitive, and there were few opportunities to extract themselves should something go wrong. They did plan well for one problem that plagued many earlier expeditions - they brought enough canned food to make it to each of the two restocking points, thus avoiding starvation.
A challenge unique to Clover and Jotter was overcoming the misogynistic bias enveloping all aspects of their trip. There were the non-believers who argued that women would be an insuperable hindrance on any trip down the river. Of course, there had been only one documented case of a woman attempting the trip, and she and her husband had both disappeared. It wasn't unusual for men to die, disappear, or be seriously injured while attempting to "boat the Colorado". And not to split hairs, but there would have been no trip if these women had not been adamant about finding and recording plant life!
Then there was the publicity, which focused on the novelty of the women's participation as if their planned trip was a stunt or a lark, ignoring the obsession with botany that the two scientists shared. No matter how often they corrected interviewers, botany rarely made it into reports.
During the trip, gender roles broke out much as they would in a domestic setting. The women awoke first, dealing with the fire, making breakfast, and sometimes processing their collections, before the men first stirred in their bedrolls. As I read I was often put in mind of one of my mother's favorite sayings, "Man can work from sun to sun, but women's work is never done."
As with all the best books of this genre, Sevigny includes a ton of information on issues peripheral to the trip. Previously I lacked an understanding of just how wild the Colorado was prior to the construction of the Hoover Dam, and of how the Glen Canyon Dam did even more to "tame" the river. The river area had been a homeland for native Americans, and the ruthless way in which the US government stripped it from them is a recurring theme in the book. (Clover herself was sensitive to this and some of the discussions of the topic branch off from her comments.)
Sevigny works in explorations of the politics of the National Park system and the ecological issues related to the Dust Bowl. I found it impossible not to compare with today's intentional disregard of the impacts to come of climate change, the way that decision makers intentionally ignored the cautions of scientists that the Colorado actually carried far less water than the hopeful estimates that drove many policies.
A generous amount of biographical information about Clover and Jotter is included, in addition to an explanation of the development of the field of botany as a science, and the changing role of women within it. Clover and Jotter's travels are all the more impressive when seen in the context of an attitude that women should be restricted to the collection of plants in places where they wouldn't run the risk of getting their feet wet!
When Jotter was in her 80s she was invited to participate in another Colorado River trip, this one dedicated to collecting insights from individuals who had traveled the river prior to the construction of the Glen Canyon Dam. Her observations, along with those of other participants, fed into suggestions for ways to better manage the water flows to restore the older riparian ecosystems.
The positive energy that Clover and Jotter brought to their adventurous undertaking comes through in Brave the Wild River: The Untold Story of Two Women Who Mapped the Botany of the Grand Canyon. Just what I needed to raise my spirits this week!
Few others attempted to navigate the Colorado between the time of Powell's trip in 1869 and the journey undertaken by botanists Elzada Clover and Lois Jotter nearly 60 years later, in 1938. While Powell had made records of the geology and history of the area, no one had considered documenting the plant life growing along the riverbed and canyon walls. Clover, a PhD from the University of Michigan, and Jotter, one of her graduate students, set about to correct that. And to be the first women to successfully "boat" the length of the Colorado.
They engaged an expedition leader who had experience traveling some sections of the Green and Colorado Rivers, and were accompanied by a male graduate student and a couple of rivermen to man the boats. Halfway through the trip, three of the men had to be replaced, but Clover and Jotter went the distance. Along the way they collected 200 specimens and identified 4 new species of cactus.
I probably don't need to point out that this was a challenging undertaking. The boats were untested, the camping equipment was primitive, and there were few opportunities to extract themselves should something go wrong. They did plan well for one problem that plagued many earlier expeditions - they brought enough canned food to make it to each of the two restocking points, thus avoiding starvation.
A challenge unique to Clover and Jotter was overcoming the misogynistic bias enveloping all aspects of their trip. There were the non-believers who argued that women would be an insuperable hindrance on any trip down the river. Of course, there had been only one documented case of a woman attempting the trip, and she and her husband had both disappeared. It wasn't unusual for men to die, disappear, or be seriously injured while attempting to "boat the Colorado". And not to split hairs, but there would have been no trip if these women had not been adamant about finding and recording plant life!
Then there was the publicity, which focused on the novelty of the women's participation as if their planned trip was a stunt or a lark, ignoring the obsession with botany that the two scientists shared. No matter how often they corrected interviewers, botany rarely made it into reports.
During the trip, gender roles broke out much as they would in a domestic setting. The women awoke first, dealing with the fire, making breakfast, and sometimes processing their collections, before the men first stirred in their bedrolls. As I read I was often put in mind of one of my mother's favorite sayings, "Man can work from sun to sun, but women's work is never done."
As with all the best books of this genre, Sevigny includes a ton of information on issues peripheral to the trip. Previously I lacked an understanding of just how wild the Colorado was prior to the construction of the Hoover Dam, and of how the Glen Canyon Dam did even more to "tame" the river. The river area had been a homeland for native Americans, and the ruthless way in which the US government stripped it from them is a recurring theme in the book. (Clover herself was sensitive to this and some of the discussions of the topic branch off from her comments.)
Sevigny works in explorations of the politics of the National Park system and the ecological issues related to the Dust Bowl. I found it impossible not to compare with today's intentional disregard of the impacts to come of climate change, the way that decision makers intentionally ignored the cautions of scientists that the Colorado actually carried far less water than the hopeful estimates that drove many policies.
A generous amount of biographical information about Clover and Jotter is included, in addition to an explanation of the development of the field of botany as a science, and the changing role of women within it. Clover and Jotter's travels are all the more impressive when seen in the context of an attitude that women should be restricted to the collection of plants in places where they wouldn't run the risk of getting their feet wet!
When Jotter was in her 80s she was invited to participate in another Colorado River trip, this one dedicated to collecting insights from individuals who had traveled the river prior to the construction of the Glen Canyon Dam. Her observations, along with those of other participants, fed into suggestions for ways to better manage the water flows to restore the older riparian ecosystems.
The positive energy that Clover and Jotter brought to their adventurous undertaking comes through in Brave the Wild River: The Untold Story of Two Women Who Mapped the Botany of the Grand Canyon. Just what I needed to raise my spirits this week!
July 21, 2023
I was really excited to read this, seemed right up my alley, but I learned more about the sexism the women experienced than their love of botany. It was a little disappointing. The author kept telling us how frustrating the women were that the men and news reporters passed over their botany work to discuss their gender while doing the exact same thing in this book.
April 7, 2024
Read for the BookTube prize non-fiction. 4.5 stars. It did end up being my third out of six and moved on to the Quarterfinals
What struck me most about this recent book that describes the adventures of two women botanists who made history by being the first non-native women to raft down the Colorado is how young this country really is (or perhaps how old I am). These women noted in history for their bravery and daring in taking a trip few and especially women had ever attempted before was completed only 10 years before my own birth. I remember seeing the Grand Canyon at the age of 12 in 1962 when my family moved from the Midwest to California. It seemed to me at that age that the conquering of the west was over and done and my greatest desire was to visit Disneyland.
This book highlighted how much has changed in the last 70 years as far as the growth in the knowledge of ecosystems, and all the changes that man’s presence is making on the landscapes around us even in the areas of our National Parks, that we believe we are preserving for the generations to come. There was much information that opened my eyes about the recent changes in the use of both the Grand Canyon and the Colorado river. While the story is of these two women, Elzada Clover and Lois Jotter both botanists from the University of Michigan, who are lauded as the first two non-indigenous women to raft the Colorado in small boats, much history is folded in between the lines of that journey. And it is an amazing history even if at times it seems to interrupt and pull this reader away from a ripping good yarn of bravery and wet roaring water the story could have been.
I found myself wishing that the history could have been told in one chapter early in the book. While it might have been a little dull and info heavy, there were some startling facts such as the two honeymooners who attempted the trip in 1928 and disappeared, their fate still unknown, and it would have highlighted how this trip was one of a kind, as the damming of this river was already underway. This group of four men and two women who braved this 600 mile journey during the heat of the summer in 1938 in three small boats were the considered extreme explorers of their day. The river know for its treacherous rapids was about to change. The Hoover Dam was completed but as yet Lake Mead was unfilled, the Glen Canyon and as many as 6 more dams were being considered to provide water and power to the 7 states that managed the river. So while several parties had attempted the river run before none had allowed women in the groups and several had ended in disaster.
So the trip was going to be one of a kind in more ways than one. The author primarily highlights the how unusual it was for two women, scientists (an unusual profession for women at that time) undertaking such a journey into the wildness with four men. Clover (41) and Jotter (24) along with the men, only the male leader of the expedition had any river rafting experience, were thought by many unlikely to survive. The book seems determined to highlight the botany aspect of the trip but only occasionally speaks of the gathering of plants and gives more if not equal time to the white water and close calls the group encountered.
It is a good story for sure and also tells how tourism had played a role in the changing use of National Parks, the effect of man’s use of these areas we believe we are keeping in their natural state and in more recent years how climate change and use pose a continuous threat.
I don’t often read non-fiction nature books and admit I was not looking forward to reading this one but I did find it opened my eyes to many aspects of ecology and use of the land I had not considered before. Having gone to college in Arizona and living in the west I’ve seen the Grand Canyon many times but I know I will never see it in the same way again.
What struck me most about this recent book that describes the adventures of two women botanists who made history by being the first non-native women to raft down the Colorado is how young this country really is (or perhaps how old I am). These women noted in history for their bravery and daring in taking a trip few and especially women had ever attempted before was completed only 10 years before my own birth. I remember seeing the Grand Canyon at the age of 12 in 1962 when my family moved from the Midwest to California. It seemed to me at that age that the conquering of the west was over and done and my greatest desire was to visit Disneyland.
This book highlighted how much has changed in the last 70 years as far as the growth in the knowledge of ecosystems, and all the changes that man’s presence is making on the landscapes around us even in the areas of our National Parks, that we believe we are preserving for the generations to come. There was much information that opened my eyes about the recent changes in the use of both the Grand Canyon and the Colorado river. While the story is of these two women, Elzada Clover and Lois Jotter both botanists from the University of Michigan, who are lauded as the first two non-indigenous women to raft the Colorado in small boats, much history is folded in between the lines of that journey. And it is an amazing history even if at times it seems to interrupt and pull this reader away from a ripping good yarn of bravery and wet roaring water the story could have been.
I found myself wishing that the history could have been told in one chapter early in the book. While it might have been a little dull and info heavy, there were some startling facts such as the two honeymooners who attempted the trip in 1928 and disappeared, their fate still unknown, and it would have highlighted how this trip was one of a kind, as the damming of this river was already underway. This group of four men and two women who braved this 600 mile journey during the heat of the summer in 1938 in three small boats were the considered extreme explorers of their day. The river know for its treacherous rapids was about to change. The Hoover Dam was completed but as yet Lake Mead was unfilled, the Glen Canyon and as many as 6 more dams were being considered to provide water and power to the 7 states that managed the river. So while several parties had attempted the river run before none had allowed women in the groups and several had ended in disaster.
So the trip was going to be one of a kind in more ways than one. The author primarily highlights the how unusual it was for two women, scientists (an unusual profession for women at that time) undertaking such a journey into the wildness with four men. Clover (41) and Jotter (24) along with the men, only the male leader of the expedition had any river rafting experience, were thought by many unlikely to survive. The book seems determined to highlight the botany aspect of the trip but only occasionally speaks of the gathering of plants and gives more if not equal time to the white water and close calls the group encountered.
It is a good story for sure and also tells how tourism had played a role in the changing use of National Parks, the effect of man’s use of these areas we believe we are keeping in their natural state and in more recent years how climate change and use pose a continuous threat.
I don’t often read non-fiction nature books and admit I was not looking forward to reading this one but I did find it opened my eyes to many aspects of ecology and use of the land I had not considered before. Having gone to college in Arizona and living in the west I’ve seen the Grand Canyon many times but I know I will never see it in the same way again.
April 6, 2023
My first nonfiction read of the year and it was a good one! Brave The Wild River is the story of two women who mapped the botany of the Grand Canyon. In 1938 Elzada Clover and Lois Jotter set off on an expedition down the Colorado River with three male boatmen and their leader. The Colorado River was the most dangerous river in America and only a few people had ever attempted the rapids. No one had yet surveyed the plants in the Grand Canyon and the two botanists wanted to be the first. It was a very important but dangerous job.
Their story is exciting, interesting, and informative. Within the first few pages I had already learned a lot. Botany was considered a girly science, yet women didn't hold high-ranking jobs. Collecting plants while out for a stroll was nice but white water rafting was dangerous and incomprehensible. These women had to deal with a lot just to live their dream.
And then there was the river. I felt like I was right there with them. The descriptions of the river and Grand Canyon are so beautiful and well done. You can imagine how everyone felt on the 43 day journey. This story is well researched and well written. We get the history of the river, the native people who originally lived there, and how everything changed when people came with money and big plans.
If you are interested in nature, the Grand Canyon, exploring, or women's stories then you will like this. I highly recommend it. It's so interesting and fun to read. I was a little sad when I got to the last page because I had such a good time.
Brave The Wild River comes out May 23. Thank you so much to the publisher & Netgalley for the chance to read!
Their story is exciting, interesting, and informative. Within the first few pages I had already learned a lot. Botany was considered a girly science, yet women didn't hold high-ranking jobs. Collecting plants while out for a stroll was nice but white water rafting was dangerous and incomprehensible. These women had to deal with a lot just to live their dream.
And then there was the river. I felt like I was right there with them. The descriptions of the river and Grand Canyon are so beautiful and well done. You can imagine how everyone felt on the 43 day journey. This story is well researched and well written. We get the history of the river, the native people who originally lived there, and how everything changed when people came with money and big plans.
If you are interested in nature, the Grand Canyon, exploring, or women's stories then you will like this. I highly recommend it. It's so interesting and fun to read. I was a little sad when I got to the last page because I had such a good time.
Brave The Wild River comes out May 23. Thank you so much to the publisher & Netgalley for the chance to read!
June 1, 2023
I will read any book about plant ladies or map ladies and this has both. 🌵🗺️👩🔬
November 4, 2023
I’m reluctantly quitting this book on page 147 and here’s why;
1. The book, unfortunately, just felt too weighed down by the gender issues of the time.
2. The book’s focus was too broad in telling of the women’s botany, The Colorado River explorers that came before and the ominous history of the Grand Canyon.
In the end, I became highly distracted and it reminded me of my school days with a reading assignment and a quiz the next morning on a topic I was not interested in.
So I put it down since I’m not in school anymore.
1. The book, unfortunately, just felt too weighed down by the gender issues of the time.
2. The book’s focus was too broad in telling of the women’s botany, The Colorado River explorers that came before and the ominous history of the Grand Canyon.
In the end, I became highly distracted and it reminded me of my school days with a reading assignment and a quiz the next morning on a topic I was not interested in.
So I put it down since I’m not in school anymore.
July 6, 2023
I'm reallllly glad this book exists, but I don't think *I* reallllly needed to read it. But maybe it will be perfect for YOU!
"Brave the Wild River" follows scientists Elzada Clover and Lois Jotter as they make a daring journey down the untamed Colorado River. Their goal is to map the relatively unknown plant life through the base of the Grand Canyon. However, because they are women as well as botanists (and because the year is 1938) the "women" identifier receives far more attention than the "botanists" one. Clover and Jotter navigate rapids and sexism as they do what they came here to do: wear pants for once and collect some damn plant samples.
Melissa L. Sevigny’s narrative nonfiction account is clearly well-researched and I think well-written. It’s not the most ~narrative~ of narrative nonfictions, but it certainly reads easier than, say, a full-on textbook. Using mostly media accounts, personal letters, and diaries from the crew (Clover and Jotter joined a trip led by a handful of men), Sevigny paints a clear picture of their harrowing journey (this is pre-damming of any of the Colorado; seriously, people were dying on this river) and the work the botanists-who-happen-to-be-women did. Sevigny makes sure to add both context (ahem, the oppression of Indigenous peoples’ and their contributions to botany and the Colorado) and color (plenty of fun and funny asides from our protagonists).
I just… wasn’t interested enough. I am now a True Believer in the importance of what Clover and Jotter did–and the importance of Sevigny documenting it–but that didn’t translate to me actually enjoying this read all that much. I found my mind drifting (pun intended and apologized for) way too often to give this anything higher than a 3. But! It might be a 5 for you! Absolutely pick this up if the subject matter is intriguing.
"Brave the Wild River" follows scientists Elzada Clover and Lois Jotter as they make a daring journey down the untamed Colorado River. Their goal is to map the relatively unknown plant life through the base of the Grand Canyon. However, because they are women as well as botanists (and because the year is 1938) the "women" identifier receives far more attention than the "botanists" one. Clover and Jotter navigate rapids and sexism as they do what they came here to do: wear pants for once and collect some damn plant samples.
Melissa L. Sevigny’s narrative nonfiction account is clearly well-researched and I think well-written. It’s not the most ~narrative~ of narrative nonfictions, but it certainly reads easier than, say, a full-on textbook. Using mostly media accounts, personal letters, and diaries from the crew (Clover and Jotter joined a trip led by a handful of men), Sevigny paints a clear picture of their harrowing journey (this is pre-damming of any of the Colorado; seriously, people were dying on this river) and the work the botanists-who-happen-to-be-women did. Sevigny makes sure to add both context (ahem, the oppression of Indigenous peoples’ and their contributions to botany and the Colorado) and color (plenty of fun and funny asides from our protagonists).
I just… wasn’t interested enough. I am now a True Believer in the importance of what Clover and Jotter did–and the importance of Sevigny documenting it–but that didn’t translate to me actually enjoying this read all that much. I found my mind drifting (pun intended and apologized for) way too often to give this anything higher than a 3. But! It might be a 5 for you! Absolutely pick this up if the subject matter is intriguing.
April 11, 2024
I loved this book with all of my soul. It made me miss my biological jobs with the NPS and USGS so much I cried. I did work in some of the exact places Jotter and Clover were and I had incredible women as my bosses with vast botany knowledge. I loved how Jotter and Clover wanted to take on this journey not for glory but for science. They proved, contrary to popular opinion, that women can not only survive but thrive in the Grand Canyon. Also- the natural history of the Grand Canyon in the book was so interesting and depressing. Humans have really altered it in the last 150 years but regardless it’s still so incredible. I have got to get myself on a GC river trip!! Also the end of the book mentioned Bob Webb whom I worked for for a summer. Anyway- I feel like this book reminded me of a part of myself that I really love.
July 17, 2023
I did not expect one of my favorite books of the summer to be non-fiction, but I just loved this book. Some themes that I loved: women in science, river rafting drama, plant life, the evolving ideas of what national parks should look like and their goals. I thought the author did a great job of incorporating journal entries and letters to give us a well rounded idea of what the trip was like.
May 31, 2023
What a great story! Two women botanists have an amazing expedition on the Colorado River in 1938. Women were disregarded and thought of as too weak to possibly participate in this journey. It is a wonderful study of how much our attitudes have and have not changed. It is also a well told, rollicking, crazy adventure.
March 18, 2023
A beautifully engrossing story of dogged determination to further the field of botany in a time it was hardly considered a serious scientific field. Elzada Clover and Lois Jotter faced a lot of sexism, misogyny, and outright rejection; yet despite all that, made great strides in shifting how women were viewed, both socially and academically.
From the start, the reader is drawn into the wild, stark beauty of the Grand Canyon nearly a century ago. Sevigny paints such a rich, vivid picture of the environment it’s difficult not to immediately rush off to retrace the 1938 expedition’s footsteps.
With brief nods to conservationists such as Leopold, Wright, and Carson, Sevigny traces the history and evolution of conservation with great detail, highlighting the vast discoveries and contributions the two botanists made.
Sevigny did a fantastic job researching and synthesizing personal journals, letters, articles, papers, and interviews to craft a thorough biography of two determined botanists who couldn’t be told “no”. This is a must-read for adventurers, historians, botanists, geologists, conservationists, and anyone with a love for the beauty of the natural world.
From the start, the reader is drawn into the wild, stark beauty of the Grand Canyon nearly a century ago. Sevigny paints such a rich, vivid picture of the environment it’s difficult not to immediately rush off to retrace the 1938 expedition’s footsteps.
With brief nods to conservationists such as Leopold, Wright, and Carson, Sevigny traces the history and evolution of conservation with great detail, highlighting the vast discoveries and contributions the two botanists made.
Sevigny did a fantastic job researching and synthesizing personal journals, letters, articles, papers, and interviews to craft a thorough biography of two determined botanists who couldn’t be told “no”. This is a must-read for adventurers, historians, botanists, geologists, conservationists, and anyone with a love for the beauty of the natural world.
April 14, 2024
I really loved this book. It was so well-written, adventurous, poignant, and inspiring. It felt like traveling through time, and yet, in a lot of ways, it felt so familiar; as a woman who loves science and nature, it felt relatable. It was disheartening to read all the bits about how these incredible women and their scientific passions were either neglected or mocked. The end made me emotional, in the way a deep-dive into recent history always has the power to do, as it really sinks in how different a world it was almost a century ago and yet that wasn't so long ago at all. My lifetime has overlapped with some of the people in this book, and that is very moving to me. I'm going to the Grand Canyon in a few weeks and this book captured so much of the history, soul, and science of this storied landscape - I'm even more excited now that I have a better grasp of the impact of this land and this river, and I'm so grateful to have read about the first two Western women to raft the river, for the love of plants.
April 24, 2023
I loved the details in this adventure story focused on Elzada Clover and Lois Jotter's scientific expedition to the Colorado River. The author researched not only their memoir's but also the memoirs of their companions to tell their tale. I won this book in a Goodreads giveaway, and am thankful to the publisher for sending it my way! This book would make a great gift to anyone who loves nature.
September 11, 2023
More interesting than riveting, more history than adventure, but that was just fine since I came for interesting history. The author did an amazing job of research and writing and structure and scope, and masterfully wove in the societal and ecological facets to this story, including contributions and impacts of Native people, women in science, wildlife, park policy, etc. And, of course, the highlight: botany.
Kudos for telling this important story so beautifully.
Kudos for telling this important story so beautifully.
January 10, 2024
This books ticks all my boxes for a great read - strong women doing something bad ass, a story about a journey, set in the outdoors! It’s a true story that reads like a novel - not sure whether to laugh or cry that the botanist heroines were expected to do all the cooking.
March 17, 2023
Simply fantastic—Sevigny is a poet, scholar, and scientist. Changed the way I see myself and the world. My inspiration for taking botany classes!
July 10, 2024
I finished a book; can you believe it? Overall this was good. Probably 3.5 stars, if I'm honest.
I have to say, I lost all respect for Jotter when she dumped her pour of Four Roses bourbon out on the sand. What the hell? If she wasn't going to drink it, she could have passed instead of wasting precious bourbon. Unforgivable! 😂
I have to say, I lost all respect for Jotter when she dumped her pour of Four Roses bourbon out on the sand. What the hell? If she wasn't going to drink it, she could have passed instead of wasting precious bourbon. Unforgivable! 😂
July 17, 2023
This book promised everything I love in a non-fiction. It’s about women blazing a trail (or rafting a river in this case) in a man-dominated field; it’s about nature—the plants and landscape of the desert and the Grand Canyon; it’s a real-life adventure story. I thought it would be an amazing read!
However, while I liked it overall and really enjoyed some parts, it fell a little flat for me. I would not consider this a narrative non-fiction because it felt too much like I was reading a journal or newspaper article. I found my mind wandering a bit too often and it took me a while to get through it.
That being said, I would still recommend it to anyone that enjoys learning about historical people and events or fans of nature/botany.
However, while I liked it overall and really enjoyed some parts, it fell a little flat for me. I would not consider this a narrative non-fiction because it felt too much like I was reading a journal or newspaper article. I found my mind wandering a bit too often and it took me a while to get through it.
That being said, I would still recommend it to anyone that enjoys learning about historical people and events or fans of nature/botany.
June 26, 2023
The book surprised me with how well it painted the sights and sounds of the Colorado River. The characters were original and didn't conform to any stereotypes that I had in my head, which made the book even more fascinating. Lastly, the book also shed light for me on what botany looked like at the beginning of the 1900s; now in my head, I can connect the dots between Clover/Jotter and Mark Watney. ;)
On a more serious note, this book does make me want to go on a river rafting adventure that lasts longer than a day. And I think I will in the next few years.
On a more serious note, this book does make me want to go on a river rafting adventure that lasts longer than a day. And I think I will in the next few years.
November 21, 2023
This is a great book and story. Botany is important and so is feminism! As not a river rat, some things that I’m sure were impactful for others were just kinda repetitive for me.
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October 31, 2023I seldom choose a non-fiction book, but our book club did, so I read it. The farther along I read, the more I liked the book. Sevigny has done her research, but the writing is not dry. In fact, it was almost poetic in places. (Hence my categorizing it as literary fiction, even if it's not fiction) The descriptions were vivid but not overdone.
The story of two women botanists who mapped the plant life along the Colorado River in Grand Canyon was often breathtaking. I had never heard of Elzada Clover or Lois Jotter before, but their work helped shape the way we look at ecosystems now. That they acccomplished this in 1938, when the world saw the role of women very differently, makes their work even more admirable. And they did this while helping negotiate the rapids, cooking all the meals, and doing all the other "womanly" tasks required on the harrowing journey. Reporters at the time refused to cover the scientific purpose of the trip for the women, instead treating it like something they did for the thrill. This made me almost as angry as it did Elzada and Lois.
By the way, I was in Mexican Hat this past summer and the Lodge is still there. We ate delicious Indian tacos at the restaurant!
The story of two women botanists who mapped the plant life along the Colorado River in Grand Canyon was often breathtaking. I had never heard of Elzada Clover or Lois Jotter before, but their work helped shape the way we look at ecosystems now. That they acccomplished this in 1938, when the world saw the role of women very differently, makes their work even more admirable. And they did this while helping negotiate the rapids, cooking all the meals, and doing all the other "womanly" tasks required on the harrowing journey. Reporters at the time refused to cover the scientific purpose of the trip for the women, instead treating it like something they did for the thrill. This made me almost as angry as it did Elzada and Lois.
By the way, I was in Mexican Hat this past summer and the Lodge is still there. We ate delicious Indian tacos at the restaurant!
August 26, 2023
In Brave the Wild River, science journalist Melissa Sevigny tells the story of Elzada Clover and Lois Jotter who, in 1938, set off to raft the Colorado River along with a guide and several others in order to map the botany of the Grand Canyon. This is such a fascinating story - part adventure, part science writing, and part look at the lives of female scientists who blazed trails and defied convention in pursuit of scientific knowledge. While Clover and Jotter undertook the expedition for scientific reasons, the media attention was all focused on their status (if successful) of being the first women to raft the canyon. Sevigny also gives you some additional exploration into the history of National Park lands and how they have been managed. At the end of the book, one of the women goes back at the age of 80 to participate in a scientific journey back down the river through the Grand Canyon - it was the perfect way to end the book and bring the story full circle. This is a great read for anyone who loves stories of women in science, the history of our parks, or stories about our natural world. I would love to see this get more attention.
September 15, 2023
I enjoyed this true story of two women botanists making their way down the Colorado River before any dams were on it. There were four men on this expedition with the divergent aims of photography, zoology, and safely running the river. The guide was not very experienced. The author artfully uses quotes from the participants' diaries to illustrate what they thought of each other. Some of these observations are funny. All of the publicity focused on the botanists being women, and not scientists.
The author includes the after stories of each crewmember. The two women continued their careers in academia. Not until she was eighty years old did the younger woman, Lois Jotter Cutter go down the Colorado again. That was the first time she received an invitation as a scientist and not as a woman anxious for an adventure.
The text includes information about the natural and human history of the Grand Canyon, historical practices of the National Park Service, motives of the women throughout their careers, and plenty of plant talk.
The author includes the after stories of each crewmember. The two women continued their careers in academia. Not until she was eighty years old did the younger woman, Lois Jotter Cutter go down the Colorado again. That was the first time she received an invitation as a scientist and not as a woman anxious for an adventure.
The text includes information about the natural and human history of the Grand Canyon, historical practices of the National Park Service, motives of the women throughout their careers, and plenty of plant talk.
November 7, 2023
I LOVED this book. I found the story so fascinating: two female botanists wanting to travel down the Colorado River to collect specimens and conduct research on the plant life of the Grand Canyon. Unfortunately, it was the 1930s, when the world wasn’t the most open-minded to women rafting down the Colorado River. Despite the challenges, Elzada Clover and Lois Jotter, accomplished what they set out to do, and I am in awe of their bravery, ambition, and passion. They truly paved the way for women in science, as well as women in the outdoors. I also liked how the author incorporated history of the national parks system, the effects on indigenous people and their lands, and the impacts of humans in general on the environment. This book covered so many environmental topics but was bound together by Clover and Jotter’s remarkable story.
January 7, 2024
Melissa Sevigny has done a wonderful job portraying the trials and achievements of two women scientists trying to carry out their work as botanists as the only women of a crew running the Green and Colorado Rivers in the late 1930's. Up to that time there were very few people who had successfully run the river, and quite a few had lost their lives. Over the course of the book the author fleshes out the personalities of the crew and the people they meet along the way. I definitely would have liked to have known both Elzata Clover and Lois Jotter.
One detail I will remember from the book is that traveling to the west by car, they were among the first to drive over Trail Ridge Road in Rocky Mountain National Park.
One detail I will remember from the book is that traveling to the west by car, they were among the first to drive over Trail Ridge Road in Rocky Mountain National Park.
March 4, 2024
Wow, what an amazing book and an even more amazing story. The women who made this book possible (Clover, Jotter, and the author) inspire me deeply. My work on the Colorado River is rewarding on a daily basis, but it is stories like these that remind me I am a part of a long, storied, moving, and important study of one of the most spectacular landscapes on the planet. Thank you Melissa for illuminating this story so beautifully and teaching me about those who laid the foundation for young women scientists like me.
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