As always, the best place to start learning more about a book is by checking the author’s website. Melissa Sevigny’s website includes links to radio stories and to “news & reviews.” There’s a lot you can learn about this science reporter here.
I first read an Atlas Obscura interview with Melissa Sevigny about her then new book, Brave the Wild River: The Untold Story of Two Women Who Mapped the Botany of the Grand Canyon and was captivated by the story. I contacted her and she sent me a review copy of the book – thank you so very much, Melissa!
I think I read my copy by sitting up all night. It’s a truly fascinating read and completely true. As Melissa has described, she worked with diaries (apparently kept by all the crew members of the expedition) and news coverage. The expedition made national news. Despite the heavy reliance on historical documentation, the book reads like an adventure story and the narrative flows easily. For those who remember the old ‘you are there’ movies, it’s just like that but better.
My short summary of the book would be: if you’re a botanist, this is your book. If you want to know more about the history of rafting the Colorado, you don’t want to miss this book. If you want to know about what it was like to be a female botanist on the Colorado in the late 1930s, this is a must-read. (And, sadly, some things related to being a woman academic haven’t changed as much as most women might have hoped over the past 80 or so years.)
In an early interview with Melissa (17 May 2023), she talks about how the story found her and some of the challenges of writing a true story that is respectful of many perspectives, including those of the Indigenous peoples of the region.
As something of a bonus, that article includes a link to another piece (The Price of Cherries) written by Melissa for the same magazine.
While reading is fine for when you’re alone and wishing to learn more about something, video clips are the way to go for a group meeting. The following three clips are selections I liked in which Melissa speaks about writing and writing this book.
Choosing Between Sciences and Humanities: We Talk to Journalist Melissa Sevigny | Star Stuff Podcast (36:54)
In this episode of Star Stuff, we sit down with journalist Melissa Sevigny to talk about her career, choosing between different paths, and her newest book, “Brave the Wild River.”
Read Science! Brave the Wild River Edition (1:00:30).
Writing Westward Podcast 053 – Melissa Sevigny – Brave the Wild River podcast (56:18).
A certain amount of the source material Melissa used is available online. The following are some of the links I found:
Elzada Clover navigating the Colorado River
Down the Great River: Diary of a Cactus Hunter (3:18)
U Mich search page: a great resource for learning about more resources!
In 1994, there was a photo-match trip for people who had seen the Grand Canyon before the Glen Canyon Dam. Lois Jotter Cutter, then about 80 years old, was one of the participants. Her interview is shown in three segments.
1 (34:42)
2 (40:26)
3 (1:02:08).
Norman Nevills 1947 Colorado River Expedition (9:30)
Buzz Holmstron on the river in 1938.
Clover and Jotter, Cacti of the Canyon of the Colorado River and Tributaries, 1941 paper. You might need an account to see the full paper.
This includes an easily legible abstract describing some scientific issues in the name of one of the plants identified by Clover and Jotter and seems to have the pages from a full article although I haven’t been able to track down actual links to the source article.
Although Clover and Jotter are the subject of the book, the National Park Service has a page that includes two other female botanists.