Wateriders is all about Good Green Fun, and we support Chicago History kayaking education, too!

The links below are to our favorite online Kayaking resources; books about Chicago History that have informed our Chicago River kayak tours; and links to supporters of kayaking in Metro Chicago like our partners the East Bank Club and the City of Evanston.

Metro Chicago Kayaking Supporters

The East Bank Club
Our New Downtown Chicago Kayaking Partner

City of Evanston Parks and Recreation
Hosts of our new Evanston Lakefront Kayak Tours and Expeditions

Books About Kayaks and Kayaking

Sea Kayak Handling
Practical Manual, Essential Knowledge for Beginner and Intermediate Paddlers

Sea Kayak: A Manual for Intermediate and Advanced Sea Kayakers
Kayaking history, physiology, boat and paddle dynamics, seamanship and navigation, safety and rescue, weather forecasting, caves, rockhopping and tidal races, expeditions and overnighting, as well as a wealth of tips and resources for the sea paddler

Sea Kayaking: A Manual for Long-Distance Touring
Foundations of sound seamanship and good risk management, including lessons on how to read the weather and the water, how to navigate, and how to travel with a group.

Sea Kayak Navigation: A Practical Manual, Essential Knowledge
[Book] specialist book on navigation written specially for the kayaker

Chicago History

Referenced in our Classic Chicago River and Shady Chicago: Ghosts and Gangsters of Hustlertown kayak tours.

Chicago: City on the Make: 50th Anniversary Edition
Explanations for everything from slang to Chicagoans, famous and obscure, to what the Black Sox scandal was and why it mattered

City of the Century: The Epic of Chicago and the Making of America
One of the best books for an overview of Chicago history

Nature’s Metropolis: Chicago and the Great West
Explores the relationship between Chicago, 1848-1893, and the entire West

The Gangs of Chicago: Informal History of the Chicago Underworld
How the Chicago underworld earned its notorious reputation.

For the Thrill of It: Leopold, Loeb, and the Murder That Shocked Jazz Age Chicago
Brutal murder in Chicago in 1924 of a child, by two wealthy college students

Get Capone
Capone came to a booming, bustling, corrupt, and very thirsty Chicago in 1920

Sin in the Second City: Madams, Ministers, Playboys, and the Battle for America’s Soul
Details the world-famous Everleigh Club brothel

The Plan of Chicago: Daniel Burnham and the Remaking of the American City
Concise and accessible narrative begins with a survey of Chicago’s stunning rise from a tiny frontier settlement to the nation’s second-largest city!