The Founding Fish

"The Founding Fish is . . . far more than a fishing book. It is a mini-encyclopedia, a highly informative and entertaining amalgam of natural and personal history, a work in a class by itself."—Robert H. Boyle, The New York Times Book Review

"Under McPhee's close eye, everything about this fish is fascinating."—William Moody, The Christian Science Monitor

"There are many descriptions one might give to the writing of Pulitzer Prize winner McPhee—entertaining, wry, surprising, inventive—but the quality most prominently on display in his newest work is uncompromising thoroughness. The book recounts the complete history of the delicious fish known as the shad—not just of hunting, cleaning and eating the fish, but of the famous men who caught it (William Penn, George Washington and Abraham Lincoln among them), the writers who penned heartfelt tributes to it, the biologists and ichthyologists who try to uncover its secrets and the animal activists who fight on its behalf. It is likely that no one will ever write another book quite like this one, a book that manages to relate every possible snippet of shad lore while at the same time offering up humorous tales of the author's own fishing expeditions. The book will no doubt emerge as a must-read for those already enamored of shad. For the rest of us, it serves as an example of nonfiction writing at its finest—intimate and suggestive, authoritative and convincing."—Beth Kephart, Book

"Suitably, and lucky for readers, there isn't a dry patch in this story of a fish and its homewaters. It's owlish, reflective, full of sustaining information you had no idea you wanted to know, but also warm and full of McPhee, a shad fisherman, with rod and dart and fly, of long standing . . . Readers tending toward hard science will be pleased with the clear-minded icthyological material, while those whose slant is more in the direction of humanities will graze enjoyable on the historical and anecdotal parts."—Kirkus Reviews

"McPhee is in great form here, as informative as always but also funny, unusually self-revealing, and quite passionate in his discussions of the dire effects dams have had on shad and rivers alike, and the troubling realization that catch-and-release fishing 'may be cruelty masquerading as political correctness.'"—Booklist

"McPhee reaffirms his stature as a bold American original. His prose is rugged, straightforward and unassuming, and can be just as witty. This book sings like anglers' lines cast on the water. It runs with the wisdom of ocean-going shad."—Publishers Weekly