Seven Rivers

‘Seven Rivers’ is the story of the Nile, Danube, Niger Mississippi, Ganges, Yangtze and the Thames. It is a story of imperial frontiers, alluvial gold, kidnappings, slavery, de-colonialism, creation myths and the killing of rivers. It is about those who’ve lived and died on these rivers and their endless capacity for invention: their harnessing of oases and aquifers, their lotus pools and hanging gardens, their gigantic canal systems and elaborate fishing rituals, their absolute powers and their sly rebellions. At its heart are the empire-builders of the Chinese dynasties, Romans and Hindus and their river gods, the Habsburgs and Ottomans, Mughal emperors, the people of the Niger from Mali’s golden age to today, struggles of life and death on the Mississippi, and the dethroning of the British on the rivers of their unruly imperial subjects. This is the story of us, in seven rivers.