Stones Stand, Waters Flow is a story of change and endurance. The Perkins farm, where the author spent his boyhood, stood as a silent monument to history. Hancock and Adams had fled there from Lexington, assisted in their escape by a widow, a minister, and a slave. The barn where they stabled their horses contained the horse and cow and farm implements of the author’s childhood. Their flight path through the family’s woods remained a logging trail and a favorite childhood playground. Perkins family lives were colored by history and enriched by legends of English, Scottish, Welsh, French, and Indian ancestors. The period from 1930 to1950 included also the stresses of economic depression, wartime, and a mother’s breakdown, as the slow seasons of the past hastened toward the swift transformations of the future.

The Annotations on the Waterway Classic (Chinese: 水经注; pinyin: Shuǐ Jīng Zhù) is a work on the ancient geography of China, describing the traditional understanding of its waterways and ancient canals, compiled by Li Daoyuan during the Northern Wei Dynasty (386-534 AD). The book is divided into sections by river, each described with its source, course, and major tributaries, including cultural and historical notes. The work is much expanded from its source text, the older (and now lost) Waterway Classic (Shuijing 水经). The original text described 137 different rivers in China, and its authorship was attributed to Jin dynasty scholar Guo Pu. Li Daoyuan's 40-volume, 300,000-character version includes 1252 rivers.