The Great River The Making And Unmaking Of The Mississippi
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Author |
: Boyce Upholt |
Publisher |
: W. W. Norton & Company |
Total Pages |
: 213 |
Release |
: 2024-06-11 |
ISBN-10 |
: 9780393867886 |
ISBN-13 |
: 0393867889 |
Rating |
: 4/5 (86 Downloads) |
Synopsis The Great River: The Making and Unmaking of the Mississippi by : Boyce Upholt
A sweeping history of the Mississippi River—and the centuries of human meddling that have transformed both it and America. The Mississippi River lies at the heart of America, an undeniable life force that is intertwined with the nation’s culture and history. Its watershed spans almost half the country, Mark Twain’s travels on the river inspired our first national literature, and jazz and blues were born in its floodplains and carried upstream. In this landmark work of natural history, Boyce Upholt tells the epic story of this wild and unruly river, and the centuries of efforts to control it. Over thousands of years, the Mississippi watershed was home to millions of Indigenous people who regarded “the great river” with awe and respect, adorning its banks with astonishing spiritual earthworks. The river was ever-changing, and Indigenous tribes embraced and even depended on its regular flooding. But the expanse of the watershed and the rich soils of its floodplain lured European settlers and American pioneers, who had a different vision: the river was a foe to conquer. Centuries of human attempts to own, contain, and rework the Mississippi River, from Thomas Jefferson’s expansionist land hunger through today’s era of environmental concern, have now transformed its landscape. Upholt reveals how an ambitious and sometimes contentious program of engineering—government-built levees, jetties, dikes, and dams—has not only damaged once-vibrant ecosystems but may not work much longer. Carrying readers along the river’s last remaining backchannels, he explores how scientists are now hoping to restore what has been lost. Rich and powerful, The Great River delivers a startling account of what happens when we try to fight against nature instead of acknowledging and embracing its power—a lesson that is all too relevant in our rapidly changing world.
Author |
: Paul Schneider |
Publisher |
: Henry Holt and Company |
Total Pages |
: 416 |
Release |
: 2013-09-03 |
ISBN-10 |
: 9780805098365 |
ISBN-13 |
: 0805098364 |
Rating |
: 4/5 (65 Downloads) |
Synopsis Old Man River by : Paul Schneider
A fascinating account of how the Mississippi River shaped America In Old Man River, Paul Schneider tells the story of the river at the center of America's rich history—the Mississippi. Some fifteen thousand years ago, the majestic river provided Paleolithic humans with the routes by which early man began to explore the continent's interior. Since then, the river has been the site of historical significance, from the arrival of Spanish and French explorers in the 16th century to the Civil War. George Washington fought his first battle near the river, and Ulysses S. Grant and William T. Sherman both came to President Lincoln's attention after their spectacular victories on the lower Mississippi. In the 19th century, home-grown folk heroes such as Daniel Boone and the half-alligator, half-horse, Mike Fink, were creatures of the river. Mark Twain and Herman Melville led their characters down its stream in The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn and The Confidence-Man. A conduit of real-life American prowess, the Mississippi is also a river of stories and myth. Schneider traces the history of the Mississippi from its origins in the deep geologic past to the present. Though the busiest waterway on the planet today, the Mississippi remains a paradox—a devastated product of American ingenuity, and a magnificent natural wonder.
Author |
: John M. Barry |
Publisher |
: |
Total Pages |
: 554 |
Release |
: 1997 |
ISBN-10 |
: UVA:X004092027 |
ISBN-13 |
: |
Rating |
: 4/5 (27 Downloads) |
Synopsis Rising Tide by : John M. Barry
The great Mississippi flood of 1927 and how it changed America.
Author |
: Calvin R. Fremling |
Publisher |
: Univ of Wisconsin Press |
Total Pages |
: 452 |
Release |
: 2004-12-31 |
ISBN-10 |
: 0299202941 |
ISBN-13 |
: 9780299202941 |
Rating |
: 4/5 (41 Downloads) |
Synopsis Immortal River by : Calvin R. Fremling
This engaging and well-illustrated primer to the Upper Mississippi River presents the basic natural and human history of this magnificent waterway. Immortal River is written for the educated lay-person who would like to know more about the river's history and the forces that shape as well as threaten it today. It melds complex information from the fields of geology, ecology, geography, anthropology, and history into a readable, chronological story that spans some 500 million years of the earth's history. Like the Mississippi itself, Immortal River often leaves the main channel to explore the river's backwaters, floodplain, and drainage basin. The book's focus is the Upper Mississippi, from Minneapolis, Minnesota, to Cairo, Illinois. But it also includes information about the river's headwaters in northern Minnesota and about the Lower Mississippi from Cairo south to the river's mouth ninety miles below New Orleans. It offers an understanding of the basic geology underlying the river's landscapes, ecology, environmental problems, and grandeur.
Author |
: |
Publisher |
: |
Total Pages |
: 152 |
Release |
: 2017-12 |
ISBN-10 |
: 0692981497 |
ISBN-13 |
: 9780692981498 |
Rating |
: 4/5 (97 Downloads) |
Synopsis The Great River by :
Quad-City Times photographers along with a reporter explored a 400-mile region of the Upper Mississippi River Valley that spans the entire eastern border of Iowa & northwest Illinois (including the Quad-Cities) and southwest Wisconsin.
Author |
: David Freese |
Publisher |
: |
Total Pages |
: |
Release |
: 2020-06-19 |
ISBN-10 |
: 1938086732 |
ISBN-13 |
: 9781938086731 |
Rating |
: 4/5 (32 Downloads) |
Synopsis Mississippi River by : David Freese
A major new book that shows why the Mississippi remains America's most important and iconic river!
Author |
: Philip V. Scarpino |
Publisher |
: |
Total Pages |
: 0 |
Release |
: 1985 |
ISBN-10 |
: OCLC:924903194 |
ISBN-13 |
: |
Rating |
: 4/5 (94 Downloads) |
Synopsis Great River by : Philip V. Scarpino
Author |
: Christine A. Klein |
Publisher |
: NYU Press |
Total Pages |
: 280 |
Release |
: 2014-02-28 |
ISBN-10 |
: 9781479825387 |
ISBN-13 |
: 1479825387 |
Rating |
: 4/5 (87 Downloads) |
Synopsis Mississippi River Tragedies by : Christine A. Klein
Read a free excerpt here! American engineers have done astounding things to bend the Mississippi River to their will: forcing one of its tributaries to flow uphill, transforming over a thousand miles of roiling currents into a placid staircase of water, and wresting the lower half of the river apart from its floodplain. American law has aided and abetted these feats. But despite our best efforts, so-called “natural disasters” continue to strike the Mississippi basin, as raging floodwaters decimate waterfront communities and abandoned towns literally crumble into the Gulf of Mexico. In some places, only the tombstones remain, leaning at odd angles as the underlying soil erodes away. Mississippi River Tragedies reveals that it is seductively deceptive—but horribly misleading—to call such catastrophes “natural.” Authors Christine A. Klein and Sandra B. Zellmer present a sympathetic account of the human dreams, pride, and foibles that got us to this point, weaving together engaging historical narratives and accessible law stories drawn from actual courtroom dramas. The authors deftly uncover the larger story of how the law reflects and even amplifies our ambivalent attitude toward nature—simultaneously revering wild rivers and places for what they are, while working feverishly to change them into something else. Despite their sobering revelations, the authors’ final message is one of hope. Although the acknowledgement of human responsibility for unnatural disasters can lead to blame, guilt, and liability, it can also prod us to confront the consequences of our actions, leading to a liberating sense of possibility and to the knowledge necessary to avoid future disasters.
Author |
: Albert D. Richardson |
Publisher |
: |
Total Pages |
: |
Release |
: 1869 |
ISBN-10 |
: OCLC:934785681 |
ISBN-13 |
: |
Rating |
: 4/5 (81 Downloads) |
Synopsis Beyond the Mississippi by : Albert D. Richardson
Author |
: Lee Sandlin |
Publisher |
: Vintage |
Total Pages |
: 314 |
Release |
: 2010-10-19 |
ISBN-10 |
: 9780307379511 |
ISBN-13 |
: 0307379515 |
Rating |
: 4/5 (11 Downloads) |
Synopsis Wicked River by : Lee Sandlin
A riveting narrative look at one of the most colorful, dangerous, and peculiar places in America's historical landscape: the strange, wonderful, and mysterious Mississippi River of the 19th century. Beginning in the early 1800s and climaxing with the siege of Vicksburg in 1863, Wicked River brings to life a place where river pirates brushed elbows with future presidents and religious visionaries shared passage with thieves. Here is a minute-by-minute account of Natchez being flattened by a tornado; the St. Louis harbor being crushed by a massive ice floe; hidden, nefarious celebrations of Mardi Gras; and the sinking of the Sultana, the worst naval disaster in American history. Here, too, is the Mississippi itself: gorgeous, perilous, and unpredictable. Masterfully told, Wicked River is an exuberant work of Americana that portrays a forgotten society on the edge of revolutionary change.