In this engaging new book, Bob Deans introduces Americans to the James River, explaining its essential role in the shaping of modern America and helping readers to understand how much of who we are as a nation is rooted along its shores. The River Where America Began takes readers on a journey along the James from the earliest days of civilization nearly 15, 000 years ago through the English settlement at Jamestown and finishing with Lincoln's tour of the defeated capital of Richmond in 1865.