A River Without Banks chronicles one family's journey to Idaho, with all of its uncertainties, promises, and hopes. The book explores their encounters with a place still partly wild, whose communities and landscapes teach them how to respect the earth and each other.

William Johnson's essays move from a family vacation spent observing moose, to a comparison of the creation myths from Genesis and the Nez Perce, to watching a raptor seeking prey. Johnson meditates on how places, animals, and people teach us how to see, and how we do, and don't, belong.

In prose that reveals a poet's eye, Johnson examines how family relationships affect how we see the natural world. He explores the power of words to divide and to heal. He illuminates the challenges of sustaining a vital relationship with a home place.

A River Without Banks will appeal to readers interested in the literature of place, ecology, natural history, indigenous culture, and conservation.