"The Artificial River is deeply researched, its arguments are both subtle and clear, and it is written with grace and an engagingly light touch. The book merits a wide readership."

--Paul Johnson, Journal of American History

Submitted by Publisher, February, 2002

Ronald G. Walters has amplified and updated his exploration of the fervent and diverse outburst of reform energy that shaped American history in the early years of the Republic. Capturing the vigorous and often flamboyant people who crusaded for the causes of abolition, temperance, women's suffrage, and improved health care, Walters demonstrates how the reformers' radical belief that individuals could fix what ailed America both expressed the major transformations in antebellum society and affected American culture as a whole.