Downstream from Here: A Big Life in a Small Place - Hardcover

Eisendrath, Charles R.

Hardcover

ISBN 10: 194399594X ISBN 13: 9781943995943

Publisher: Mission Point Press, 2023

Synopsis

"Why not learn how to learn by doing? Why not go backwards and forwards at the same time, intro-prospecting what's gone into our gene pool by letting it come out as the future unfolded? Each of us is a family album that few of us take the time to reference. The trick is learning how to read the pages while making new ones at the same time. The turning part happens by itself -- you just need to pay attention."

CHARLES R. EISENDRATH, in this series of essays spanning four decades, explores the things that grow lives of their own when left undisturbed at a second home -- things like an "ancestor room," a storm-struck forest, a player piano and a childhood fear of wild dogs. These essays are about the loves of a place inhabited temporarily, but which shape a person permanently.

These essays range from Anatolia to Argentina, from FDR's secret wartime fishing trip to a plane crash in Costa Rica. The margin notes of academic articles lead to a grill admired by James Beard and a Saudi prince. Tenure at the University of Michigan inspires a cherry orchard and bulldozers invite ghosts. Serious, hilarious, inquisitive, spontaneous, Eisendrath introduces us to the people and places, the life, death and afterlife that goes on nonstop, all around us, all by itself.

About this title

About the Author:

After Yale, Charles R. Eisendrath dropped out of law school to become a journalist. He remained one as Time correspondent in Washington, London and Paris, bureau chief in Buenos Aires and professor at the University of Michigan. Freelance work has appeared on NPR and in The New York Times, Wall Street Journal, International Herald-Tribune and The Atlantic. At Michigan, Eisendrath founded Wallace House. It includes the Knight-Wallace Journalism Fellowships, one of the nation's leading mid-career professional programs, and The Livingston Awards, widely known as "the Pulitzer Prize for the young." Director of the program from 1986-2016, he raised a $60 million endowment to permanently support the Fellowships, and was founding director of the Prizes. In the culinary world, Eisendrath is known for founding Grillworks, Inc. and the patented device that helped re-introduce Americans to cooking over wood. The company is now owned by his eldest son, Ben. Mark, two years younger, is an artist. Eisendrath and his wife, Julia, live in Ann Arbor and East Jordan, Michigan.

Review:

ADVANCE PRAISE FOR DOWNSTREAM FROM HERE

"Charles Eisendrath has long been considered a reporter's reporter, but with Downstream from Here he takes us on a lyrical and altogether enchanting journey through a rich life of family, nature, farms, fish and fun. He reminds us to ignore the deadlines and breathe boldly." --TOM BROKAW

"An amazing, beautifully written and unusual memoir." --KEN AULETTA, author, Annals of Communications columnist for the New Yorker

"Prepare to be inspired." --JEFF DANIELS

"... a joy!" --ELLEN GOODMAN

"...what really is fulfillment? You'll leave this book in a better place to find it." --DAVID GREENE, co-host of NPR

"Eisendrath offers us an eclectic collection of essays that highlight the value of place in our emotional lives." --CLARENCE PAGE, author, columnist, editorial board member of the Chicago Tribune

"...Eisendrath has written a memoir, a travel book, a study of nature, a poem about longing, achievements, disappointments and, ultimately, joy." --DOUG STANTON, author, co-founder of The National Writers Series

"... a paean to place and to family..." --ARI WEINZWEIG, author, co-founding partner, Zingerman's community of businesses

About this edition

• Publisher: Mission Point Press
• Publication date: 2023
• ISBN 10: 194399594X
• ISBN 13: 9781943995943
• Binding: Hardcover
• Number of pages: 272
• Illustrator: Eisendrath Mark