Journey Up The River

Anne Burleigh has written a beautiful book of reflections on the spiritual and philosophical journey of life, reflecting on marriage, family, religion, and community in late twentieth-century America. Her insights on the deeper meaning of life's journey are embodied in her ordinary experience: the Ohio River; the bed she and her fiance bought as a symbol of their future married life; the table that was the center of so many family gatherings, etc. Her reflections on the Christian meaning of daily experiences are illuminating and inspiring. In this meditative work, the river reflects our journey through time - the Lord's time.

Burleigh laces together elements of autobiography with bits of philosophy, theology, history, and literature. She calls upon such permanent themes as fidelity, place, memory, providence, the dignity of the person, and freedom and order.

"Anne Burleigh writes with grace and intensive clarity. Hers is, as she calls it, a Midwestern journey. It enables us to see in the Heartland how the Highest Things appear, grow, and flourish in the particular place wherever we are. This is an absorbing book that moves our souls because it moves our hearts. Her journey is profoundly intellectual, yet insistently historical and, yes, sentimental - the feminine mind at its best. The real revolutions, she says, begin in obscure, out-of-the-way places. That is to say, they begin with Anne Burleigh's 'Journey up the River."
- James V. Schall, S.J., Georgetown University