{"schema_version":"bf_book_companion_v1","release_id":"20261010T034321Z-reviewed-full-unique-works","book":{"amazon_purchase_url":"https://www.amazon.com/dp/0375705597?tag=bookfrontie00-20","asin":"0375705597","authors":["Edward Gargan"],"book_id":"9780375705595","canonical_url":"https://bookfrontier.com/books/the-river-s-tale-9780375705595","cover_image_url":"https://img.bookfrontier.com/9780375705595.jpg?v=5e9e6865e5a914ef","description":"Along the Mekong, from northern Tibet to Lijiang, from Luang Prabang to Phnom Penh to Can Lo, I moved from one world to another, among cultural islands often ignorant of each other’s presence. Yet each island, as if built on shifting sands and eroded and reshaped by a universal sea, was re-forming itself, or was being remolded, was expanding its horizons or sinking under the rising waters of a cultural global warming. It was a journey between worlds, worlds fragiley conjoined by a river both ominous and luminescent, muscular and bosomy, harsh and sensuous. From windswept plateaus to the South China Sea, the Mekong flows for three thousand miles, snaking its way through Southeast Asia. Long fascinated with this part of the world, former New York Times correspondent Edward Gargan embarked on an ambitious exploration of the Mekong and those living within its watershed. The River’s Tale is a rare and profound book that delivers more than a correspondent’s account of a place. It is a seminal examination of the Mekong and its people, a testament to the their struggles, their defeats and their victories.","forthcoming":false,"isbn13":"9780375705595","publication_date":"20030107","publisher":"Knopf Doubleday Publishing Group","slug":"the-river-s-tale","subtitle":"A Year on the Mekong","title":"The River's Tale"},"discovery":{"categories":{"all":[{"bisac_code":"TRV003010","confidence_band":"medium","label":"Central Asia Travel","score":0.7902,"source":"bisac_hint_model"},{"bisac_code":"TRV003020","confidence_band":"medium","label":"China Travel","score":0.774,"source":"bisac_hint_model"},{"bisac_code":"TRV026090","confidence_band":"medium","label":"Literary Travel","score":0.7644,"source":"bisac_hint_model"}],"hint":[{"bisac_code":"TRV003010","confidence_band":"medium","label":"Central Asia Travel","score":0.7902,"source":"bisac_hint_model"},{"bisac_code":"TRV003020","confidence_band":"medium","label":"China Travel","score":0.774,"source":"bisac_hint_model"},{"bisac_code":"TRV026090","confidence_band":"medium","label":"Literary Travel","score":0.7644,"source":"bisac_hint_model"}],"publisher":[{"bisac_code":"NAT029000","confidence_band":"high","label":"Rivers","score":1,"source":"onix_publisher_code"},{"bisac_code":"TRV003020","confidence_band":"high","label":"China Travel","score":1,"source":"onix_publisher_code"},{"bisac_code":"TRV003060","confidence_band":"high","label":"Southeast Asia Travel","score":1,"source":"onix_publisher_code"}]},"genres":[{"label":"Central Asia Travel","score":0.7902,"slug":"central-asia-travel"},{"label":"China Travel","score":0.774,"slug":"china-travel"},{"label":"Literary Travel","score":0.7644,"slug":"literary-travel"}],"reader_fit":["Good for readers interested in the Mekong and its watershed communities","Readers drawn to cross-cultural travel and social change"],"related_lists":[],"series":null,"similar_books":[{"authors":["Peter Hessler"],"book_id":"9780060855024","cover_image_url":"https://img.bookfrontier.com/9780060855024.jpg?v=ef2b84b568997aed","score":0.8086,"title":"River Town","url":"https://bookfrontier.com/books/9780060855024"},{"authors":["Colin Thubron"],"book_id":"9780063099692","cover_image_url":"https://img.bookfrontier.com/9780063099692.jpg?v=d93523d4ea592b4b","score":0.7425,"title":"The Amur River","url":"https://bookfrontier.com/books/9780063099692"},{"authors":["Peter Hessler"],"book_id":"9780593655337","cover_image_url":"https://img.bookfrontier.com/9780593655337.jpg?v=d7193f3592f5ac23","score":0.7372,"title":"Other Rivers","url":"https://bookfrontier.com/books/9780593655337"},{"authors":["Richard Bernstein"],"book_id":"9780679781578","cover_image_url":"https://img.bookfrontier.com/9780679781578.jpg?v=566d0f99033889fe","score":0.7231,"title":"Ultimate Journey","url":"https://bookfrontier.com/books/9780679781578"},{"authors":["Peter Hessler"],"book_id":"9780061804106","cover_image_url":"https://img.bookfrontier.com/9780061804106.jpg?v=b19135f21095ab6a","score":0.7123,"title":"Country Driving","url":"https://bookfrontier.com/books/9780061804106"},{"authors":["Boyce Upholt","Gabriel Vaughan","Highbridge Audio","& 0 more"],"book_id":"9781324110477","cover_image_url":"https://img.bookfrontier.com/9781324110477.jpg?v=59798d8d07044ca3","score":0.7077,"title":"The Great River","url":"https://bookfrontier.com/books/9781324110477"},{"authors":["Andrew Pham","Andrew X. 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