This classic novel by John Hersey is a contemplative tale about a young American engineer sent to China to inspect the unruly Yangtze River as he travels up through the river's gorges searching for dam sites. Pulled on a junk hauled by forty-odd trackers, he is carried into the settled, ancient way of life of the people of the Yangtze — and is forced to confront the conflict between deeply engrained traditions and inevitable modernization.
I wanted this cover to portray the quiet peacefulness of unaltered tradition that the novel beautifully evokes, and the looming pillars of change that must be passed through as an ancient era of living enters its twilight.
