Robert M. Thorson

There once may have been 250,000 miles of stone walls in America's Northeast, stretching farther than the distance to the moon. And even though most are crumbling today, they contain a magnificent scientific and cultural story. Stone walls tell nothing less than the story of how New England was formed, and in Robert Thorson's hands they live and breathe. Millions of years ago, New England's stones belonged to ancient mountains thrust up by prehistoric...

The Boatman gives readers a Thoreau for the Anthropocene epoch. As a backyard naturalist and river enthusiast, Thoreau was keenly aware of the way humans had altered the waterways and meadows of his beloved Concord River Valley. And he recognized that he himself--a land surveyor by trade--was as complicit in these transformations as the bankers, lawyers, builders, landowners, and elected officials who were his clients. Robert Thorson tells a compelling...

As he and his grandson walk along the stone walls surrounding his New England farm, an old man shares stories about the geologic history of the stones as well as some of the memories they hold for him.