While the Rhine, Main, Moselle, and Saar have long been canalized and transformed into waterways, the Elbe is still allowed to flow freely over a length of more than 600 kilometers. Its sandy beaches make it a gem among German rivers. The Elbe wetlands still experience the ebb and flow of high and low water. Here, the largest floodplain forests in Central Europe take root. This is where the beaver has managed to survive. Nowhere else in Germany do so many storks still nest. Since the fall of the Berlin Wall, water quality has improved almost overnight. Now, the first salmon have returned as well. It is a natural habitat that would have been lost with the expansion into a modern waterway. Yet perhaps this is where a sustainable approach to rivers begins—pioneering for Germany and Europe. The book—both in text and image—is a plea for this fascinating river: “...it is very nature-oriented and rightly carries its main title ‘Wonders of the Elbe’... Dörfler is, quite simply, thoroughly competent when it comes to the Elbe.”.