As his contribution to the deservedly popular "Rivers of America" series, Mr. Tourteliot has written this book to give the average reader a picture of the Charles and its colorful history. If you are looking for a definitive and compendious volume of the story of the river, you will have to wait until another book comes along. But if you are looking for a readable and engrossing account of the highlights of American civilization on the banks of the Charles, this should be just your dish.

How many students of American history know that the river was named by Prince Charles himself when John Smith presented a map to him, asking him to bestow names on all the landmarks? How many have heard the story of Goody Sherman's sow and its effect on our history, of the launching of the frigate "Constitution" at the mouth of the river, of the annual income of 100 pounds given to Harvard from the tolls collected on the bridges across the Charles? These and many other chapters in the story of the river are recounted by Mr. Tourtellot with considerable vigor and feeling.

Naturally, there are a few errors of omission and commission that we must try to ignore. It is to be regretted that the author stooped so low as to pun a phrase from "Fair Harvard" as a title for a chapter on printing--"Type of our ancestor's worth." The index of the book is very sketchy, and such material as the filling in of Back Bay is omitted. And certainly even poetic liceuse does not excuse the illustrator from depicting the Charles flowing serenely past Massachusetts Hall in the direction of what is now the Square. But these criticisms are decidedly minor in character, and do not detract from the general felicity of Mr. Tourtellot's treatment. "The Charles" remains a thoroughly interesting book, and belongs on the required reading list of every Harvard student.