"What is the Detroit River? It's dumps, dogpatches, ships, steamers, storms. It's monthlong salvage operations. It's the Zug Island stacks, belching clouds of purple and yellow: naphthalene, chromium, benzene, copper. It's the reflection of a city in riot. And it's the singing motormen, the agitators, and the autoworkers who look into its waves every day and see something of their future. 'The River Detroit' is Paul Vasey's tribute to a place he discovered by accident and loved over alifetime. Chatty, anecdotal, personal and passionate, by one of Windsor's most celebrated broadcasters, this grassroots memoir brings to life a new kind of border city: a Windsor that captured a reporter's imagination, stole his heart, and eventually became the place he calls home.

Praise for Paul Vasey's 'A Troublesome Boy and Other Works'

"Beneath the tough guy prose lurks a philosopher trying to understand the lack of love. Vasey's writing is gruesome and gritty going, very compelling." - The Globe and Mail

"Sharp, perceptive and vigorously written, Vasey's novel confronts the past in a way that rings true to adolescence in the present. Imaginative dialogue, an energetic pace and nuanced characters make this exceptional." - The Toronto Star

"What Kerouac does for America, Vasey does for Windsor" - Room Magazine

"A smooth and captivating read." - Canadian Book Review Annual

Growing up in Owen Sound, Paul Vasey endured a couple of stints at boarding school when he was nine, and again when he was fifteen: "My overwhelming feeling, especially at nine but also at fifteen, was of being betrayed; of being sent from a warm place to a cold one; of being sent away into the care of people who were only paid to care. A very lonely feeling." While he says he has never experienced the abuse suffered by many boarding-school boys, he did witness many scenes of cruelty and violence — scenes that ultimately stirred his memories and fed this novel.

Eventually Paul got a job at the local daily, The Owen Sound Sun-Times, and from there went on to a stellar career in journalism — print, television and radio. He has worked with The Windsor Star, Canadian Press, The Hamilton Spectator and the CBC (where he spent sixteen years as host of the morning show in Windsor, and two years hosting the morning show in Victoria, B.C.), and he has been awarded a Southam Fellowship for Journalists. He is the author of five novels for adults, as well as the nonfiction title, Kids in the Jail: Why Our Young Offenders Do the Things They Do (described by the Calgary Herald as "the most accurate and provocative demonstration yet of one of the most contentious issues of the decade"). As the board member of a mental-health treatment center for children and adolescents, he has seen how devastating abuse is for its victims, and how long-lasting its effects.

Paul lives in Windsor with his wife, Marilyn.

Paul Vasey's profile page

"Wonderful #windsor memoir!" - Margaret Atwood

"The book is a memoir, but with a few fictional characters ... we Windsorites are fortunate to be chronicled by a master storyteller who can find the truth in documenting both." - The Windsor Star