Wicked River
The Mississippi When It Last Ran Wild
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- $5.99
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- $5.99
Publisher Description
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.
PUBLISHERS WEEKLY
In this love song to the Mississippi river, Chicago journalist Sandlin winds through mythology and history, from the early 19th century, when the Chippewa peopled its banks, to the metamorphosed post-Civil War river culture. In first-time author Sandlin's hands, the Mississippi, splitting two expanses of land, is itself a split entity: a terrible destroyer that sent boats into "wild convulsions as the men clung on desperately"; a road to wealth; a holy ground; a hotspot for gamblers and prostitutes; a place loaded with violence and art. Sandlin also covers the river's legendary presence in American literature, specifically in the fiction of Mark Twain. Rather than seeing the Mississippi as merely a geographical feature, the author focuses on the river as a muse, a myth, and as a catalyst of culture. Sandlin's enthusiasm is infectious and his story is as vivid as that of any river-dweller tall tale; social historians and fans of Americana alike will traverse the book with the same sense of adventure as Huckleberry Finn rafting the river.
