North American Canoe Country is a complete treatise on the art of canoeing. Written as a guide for travelers who wanted to embark on self-sufficient trips deep into the wilderness, this book offers readers all the information they need to plan and undertake a canoe trip. Rutstrum gives the essentials on canoes, comparing birch-bark, wood, wood-and-canvas, and aluminum crafts. His paddling procedures are timeless -- he describes strategies for rough waters, rapids, for boating alone or in tandem, including diagrams of strokes. Portaging, safety procedures, direction finding, towing, and much more are systematically approached and explained.

Rutstrum also writes about some of the epic canoe journeys of the twentieth century. This book will be of interest to both armchair adventurers curious about life in the great American wilderness and to those who want ideas on how to return to a less complicated way of enjoying the great outdoors.