The Gila: River of History – Tucson

Wednesday, May 16

6:00 – 8:00 p.m.

Kirk-Bear Canyon Library

8959 E Tanque Verde Rd, Tucson, AZ 85749

The Gila: River of History with Gregory McNamee

Six hundred miles long from its source in the mountains of southwestern New Mexico to its confluence with the Colorado River above Yuma, the Gila has been an important avenue for the movement of populations—birds, animals, plants, and peoples—across the desert for millennia. Many cultures have sprung up on its banks, and millions of people depend on the river today—whether they know it or not. Gregory McNamee, author of the prizewinning book Gila: The Life and Death of an American River, presents a biography of this vital resource, drawing on Native American stories, pioneer memoirs, the writings of modern naturalists such as Aldo Leopold and Edward Abbey, and other sources. Think of it as 70 million years of history packed into an entertaining, informative hour.

Gregory McNamee is a writer, editor, photographer, and publisher. He is the author of forty books and of more than five thousand articles and other publications. He is a contributing editor to the Encyclopædia Britannica, a research fellow at the Southwest Center of the University of Arizona, and a lecturer in the Eller School of Management, also at the University of Arizona. For more about him, visit his web page at www.gregorymcnamee.com.

Photo credit: Gila River by  Gregory McNamee

For more programs and info about Water/Ways, visit azhumanities.org/waterwaysAZ