While there are countless fly fishing books, only a handful are truly important.
Some novels are important because they capture the whole of fly fishing so well, in turn captivating audiences generation after generation. Books that explore technique can be important if they perfectly articulate an aspect of angling or pioneer a new paradigm. Such volumes hold preferred positions in personal libraries and among the collective catalog of fly fishers.
Healing Waters, the 2023 work of Beau Beasley, is important because it illustrates the power of fly fishing and the tremendous potential for good possessed by fly fishers.
Beasley’s Healing Waters tells dozens of stories throughout the course of the book. Each story revolves around someone or something that has been impacted by, and had an impact upon, Project Healing Waters. Project Healing Waters was founded in 2005 to serve wounded service members at Walter Reed Medical Center who recently returned from combat in Iraq and Afghanistan. Since then it has expanded to over 200 programs across the country, drawing in any and all veterans in recovery from injuries seen or unseen.
As a retired firefighter, someone who has been around Project Healing Waters, and an experienced writer, Beasley is uniquely qualified to share the personal accounts of servicemen and women. Hearing numerous heart-wrenching accounts took resolve and a lot more work than traditional outdoor writing. But the result is poignant, authentic, and powerful. Indeed, some of the stories are hard to read. But they are real, and need to be known.
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