Daedalus favorite Jim Harrison was a poet, novelist, screenwriter, essayist, and master of the novella form, as evidenced in collections like Legends of the Fall and The Beast God Forgot to Invent. His deep sense of place and his gloriously imperfect characters shine—particularly the rascally Brown Dog, who shows up in most of Harrison's collections, skating through picaresque adventures around Michigan's Upper Peninsula.
From 1973, Harrison's second novel centers on an unlikely trio: a poet dreaming of superb fishing in cold, fast streams; a Vietnam vet consumed by uppers, downers, and violence; and a girl who loved only one of them—at first. On a long drunken night, the three of them leave Florida, driving west to buy a case of dynamite, determined to save the Grand Canyon from a dam they believe is about to be built.