Wicked River: The Mississippi when it Last Ran Wild [B1385]

2010 PB in nice clean condition. 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.

From recent Amazon/GoodReads reviews: "All history books should be like this one. Somehow everything is alive, bursting with excitement, the stories are interesting, funny and entertaining. He relies mostly on writing through perspectives of actual people that he derives from memoirs and tellings of the stories from other sources. Accounts of random bystanders and famous people back in the day are sprinkled in here and there in just the right amount."; "It was a nonfiction book that reads like a fictional adventure. I had no idea that something that I've lived next to my whole life, and had just considered a nasty eye soar, had so much cultural and historical significance."; "Very interesting book about life on and around the Mississippi River between 1800 - civil war. Each chapter was a different element of that life. Well written, informative and entertaining."; "Non-fiction is usually a no-go for me, but the way Lee Sandlin writes these books is so vivid and beautiful that I can't imagine ever reading another book like it."