The patience of rivers

the long version

"It's the summer of 1969, and it feels like the rules have been suspended. The Woodstock festival is revving up at a neighbor's farm, the rock-and-roll culture is in full swing, astronauts are landing on the moon, and young men make plans to go to college...or to war. As eighteen-year-old Nick Lauria works the family campgrounds and leads canoe trips on the Delaware River, he feels the sting of first love and the fear-turned-pain of his friend's letters from Vietnam. His parents, meanwhile, struggle to keep the family business - and themselves - intact against the blandishments and secret dealings of their business partner."--BOOK JACKET.