The River of the Kings is a concise, but detailed, history of one of the last free-flowing desert streams in the American Southwest, Arizona's Verde River. It is a story of prehistoric cultures, conquistadors, trappers, travelers, soldiers, settlers, dreamers and schemers, along with the more recent efforts to cage it, corrupt it, kill it and even save it. Its geologic beginnings, its sequence of human occupancy, and its continuing struggle to survive has only been told in dribs and drabs, most of it buried in academic papers, hidden in obscure government studies, and as anecdotal asides in books focused on stories of their own. The Verde River's story has never been told in its entirety . . . until now.