John Graves

Region: Hill Country

Topics: Rivers, Dams, Brazos River, Literature

 

Mr. Graves is an accomplished author based near Glen Rose who has written fiction and nonfiction works that touch on Texas conservation themes.  For instance, his book Goodbye to a River tracks a canoe trip he took down the Brazos River in the days shortly before it was dammed at Possum Kingdom, with observations about the history and nature of the river and its valley that show its irreplaceable value. In The Water Hustlers, coauthored with Robert Boyles and T.H. Watkins, Mr. Graves discusses the economic and ecological folly, as well as the political machinations of those who seek to dam rivers.  His book, Hard Scrabble, turns from Texas waters to a look at the richness and limits of life in the northern end of the Texas Hill Country, where years of cotton farming and livestock grazing damaged the soil and groundcover and posed hard questions about our future and the future of our relationship with nature. 

Interviewed

October 16, 2000
Glen Rose, Texas
Reel 2107