Book excerpt: The Beaverkill, Willowemoc, Neversink, Esopus, Schoharie, and Delaware—the rivers of angling pioneers Thaddeus Norris, Robert Barnwell Roosevelt, Theodore Gordon, and many others—are celebrated in this gorgeous book of photographs and text. In three major sections, Land of Little Rivers presents historical and physical profiles of the rivers; classic rods, reels, and flies; and engaging stories of the people, events, and developments that constitute the Catskill fly-fishing tradition. Complementing its photographic beauty, Land of Little Rivers is a book of substance, filled with fascinating stories, anecdotes, and nuggety captions. Land of Little Rivers is the product of author Francis’s twenty-five years of research and writing about Catskill fly fishing, and of photographer Ferorelli’s more than thirteen thousand images, from which has been selected the most evocative portfolio of photos ever made of these historic rivers. Together they have produced an exquisite, museum-quality work, one that captures magnificently the beauty and passion so central to the sport Izaak Walton called “the gentle art.”