An impassioned mediation on American identity and its ebb and flow through the Capital’s great waterway

Finalist for the 2026 Phillip D. Reed Environmental Writing Award

As she walks the length of the Potomac River, clambering up its banks and sounding its depths, Charlotte Taylor Fryar examines the geography and ecology of Washington, D.C. with all manner of flora and fauna as her witness. The ecological traces of human inhabitancy provide her with imaginative access into America’s past, for her true subject is the origin of our splintered nation and racially divided capital.

From the gentrified neighborhood of Shaw to George Washington’s slave labor camp at Mount Vernon, Potomac Fever maps the troubled histories of the United States by leading us along the less-trafficked trails and side streets of our capital city, steeped in the legacy of white supremacy and colonialism. In the end, Fryar offers hope for how “we might grow a society guided by the ethics and values of the places we live.”

A compelling synthesis of historical, environmental, and personal narrative, Potomac Fever exposes the roots of our national myths, awash in the waters of America’s renowned river.

Things people have said about Potomac Fever

“Written with verve and a profound understanding of the contradictions of American democracy. . . . Readers might curl up with [Fryar’s] book in the comfort of home or, after visiting the Lincoln Memorial and Washington Monument, take it with them on a stroll along [the Potomac]. . . . A lovely ode to an oft-neglected river.”
— Kirkus Reviews

“Fryar seamlessly weaves a fascinating history of racial, class, and gendered divisions that exist in and outside of Washington, D.C.’s quintessential worlds of interrelated nature and American (in)humanity.”
— Marcie Cohen Ferris, coeditor of Southern Cultures journal & author of The Edible South

“For readers looking for a different lens through which to view the U.S. capital and to see both the ugly impacts of racism and the beauty of nature.”
— Library Journal

“Powerful. . . . Potomac Fever strikes a wonderful balance. In some parts, it is a pastoral, wherein Fryar depicts the wonders of nature found along the banks of our region’s preeminent river. In others, it’s a hard-hitting critique of our racist past and present.”
— Washington Independent Review of Books

“While her examination of social history is that of a well-trained academic, Fryar’s deep attention to the natural world is that of a poet. Potomac Fever will delight readers.”
— D.C. Trending

“Provocative. . . . Starting with a love of the river and the plants around it, the evocative descriptions are joined by political and social histories that define who lives where and the impacts of pollution and climate change. An important read about a place that defines us all.”
— Jan Blodgett, Main Street Books (Davidson, NC)

“Both a love letter to the Potomac and a sharp critique of American myths, Potomac Fever is a lyrical and thought-provoking debut.”
— Jennifer Rothschild, Arlington Public Library in Arlington Magazine (Arlington, VA)

“Fryar walks alongside the banks of the Potomac often. The result is this book—a mix of history, nature writing, and memoir. Using the flora and fauna that flourish in her footpath, she explores the origins of our splintered nation and racially divided capital city.”
— Emma Snyder, Ivy Bookshop (Baltimore, MD)

Past events for Potomac Fever