Washington Post: An illustrated history of the most beautiful canoes

“Canoes,” by Mark Neuzil and Norman Sims, is a vibrant history of one of North America’s most beloved conveyances.

Neuzil_Canoes coverThe book, which includes an introduction by New Yorker writer John McPhee, glides through the birch-barks of the Native Americans and the canoes of the French fur traders of the Hudson’s Bay Company. Laden with beaver pelts and provisions, their canoes often weighed more than 8,000 pounds, so heavy the gunwales cleared just six inches from the water.

Keep reading.

Published in: Washington Post
By: Timothy R. Smith