At least on the surface this is the story of the author's struggle to restore (properly) an aged and almost derelict 17 foot Chris Craft Deluxe utility motorboat. Examines the link between father and son, and between the men and their boats.

From Ross Raisin, the highly acclaimed author of Out Backward—a debut novel Colm Tóibín called “compelling, disturbing and often very funny”—comes the moving and story of an ex-shipyard worker’s journey of grief and reclamation in the wake of his wife’s death. Lyrical and resonant, with echoes of Paul Harding’s Tinkers and Anne Enright’s The Gathering, Raisin’s blue collar story of a man’s fractured search for a new beginning is a powerfully voiced, penetratingly personal narrative of alienation and, ultimately, redemption. “Ross Raisin confirms himself as an exciting talent, a unique, gifted, and generous voice, a young writer with a vision broad far beyond his years.” —David Vann, Financial Times

MacDonald uses the massive foundations of bridges not visible to the eye but essential to long term viability as a metaphor for the spiritual life of Christian leaders.

In most states the boundary separating public waters from private uplands--the ordinary high water line (OHWL)--is a flashpoint between proponents of either property rights or public-trust protection of our water. Using Florida as a case study, Down to the Waterline is the first book-length analysis of the OHWL doctrine and its legal, technical, and cultural underpinnings. Sara Warner not only covers the historical function of the OHWL but tells how advances in science and our environmental attitudes have led us to a more complex encounter with this ancient boundary. Florida sees a steady influx of new residents who crowd along its extensive coasts and interior shorelines--yet who also demand pristine water resources. The OHWL establishes public access and private ownership limits on some of the state’s most valuable land: in economic terms, waterfront real estate; in ecological terms, marshes and wetlands. Sara Warner brings to life many of the courtroom battles fought over the OHWL through the perspectives of ranchers, outdoors enthusiasts, developers, surveyors, scientists, and policymakers. While explaining the OHWL’s legal and political intricacies, Warner never loses sight of the wonder of herons wading a marsh or a largemouth bass breaking a smooth lake surface. To her the OHWL is not just an ideological battleground; it is a marker of how we see the natural world. What do we think we’re doing when we channel a river or fill a swamp? she asks--for it matters greatly where we focus our attention before invoking the awesome capabilities of technology.

Bo Streiffert is a writer and boating enthusiast.

Minkkinen has been photographing himself in the nude since 1971, an exploration that unfolds here as a timeless study of the human figure amid the forces of nature. The element of water provides the common ground for his surrealistic vision.