I had been searching for quite a while for a copy of this book that I could afford; since it was somewhat of a disappointment, I was glad I hadn't splurged on it. Still, there are a lot of interesting old songs, each connected to one of the rivers of America, although not all the rivers ended up being the subject of a book (since this book was published quite early in the series.) It should not surprise anyone that some of the songs evince a careless racism common at the time. Composed songs of the twentieth century are absent, so there's no "Banks of the Wabash" or "Miss the Mississippi and You." But the musician or song historian will find much of interest in this book. ( )