The Great River: The Making and Unmaking of the Mississippi
Ratings2
Average rating4.3
15
Ratings2
Average rating4.3
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.
Reviews with the most likes.
Nothing Technically Wrong - Yet Your Mileage Will Absolutely Vary. This is one of those books where there is nothing technically wrong - even the bibliography clocks in at a healthy 30% or so - and yet with the way Upholdt chooses to write this book... eh, a lot of people are going to have a lot of problems with it.
The book does a decent enough job of going through (at a very high level, mostly) the breadth of the history of the Mississippi, particularly as it relates to human interaction with the river, from the earliest of "Native American" (themselves recent immigrants, at this point in history) all the way forward into 2020s era issues. But make no mistake, if you're looking for a more geography-based examination of the river... this really ain't that. Instead, this is far more of an engineering look at the engineering challenges of living amidst the river and shaping it - as much as possible - to human needs of the given era... no matter how ill-advised or not quite thought through or understood those efforts to shape it may have been in any given era.
One large point of contention here, for many, is the "less than straight" narrative flow, as Upholdt may be talking about 19th century efforts (or even 2020s efforts) and suddenly be doing a deep dive into ancient efforts either using an earlier tech or perhaps in the same area of the river. Similarly, we may be in New Orleans and suddenly jump to Chicago or St Louis or vice versa. These jumps worked reasonably enough for my own mind, but I also fully admit my own (Autistic) mind is very different than many, and not everyone will be able to follow such jumps with such ease.
I think, for me, the largest point of contention for my own personal tastes was Upholdt's prevalent and pervasive denigration of anything good about Western and/ or white efforts within the River, getting quite preachy at times about how other societies' efforts were "better" in some way or another according to his own tastes. No, I'm not defending in any way actual evil and vile actions that anyone of any race did along the Mississippi - humans are idiots in the best of times, and across all of humanity across all of time, there will always be people behaving nobly and people behaving abhorrently no matter their demographics. My issue with Upholdt's commentary is simply that he routinely excuses the bad in every other group while highlighting the bad in Western/ white people and ideas.
But maybe my reading of the text was off and you don't see any of that. Maybe my reading was spot on and you see it - but agree with Upholdt's views on the topics at hand. As I said in the beginning, your mileage is absolutely going to vary on this book.
If you're interested in the history of human engineering as it relates to the Mississippi River, you're ultimately going to find this book at least somewhat enjoyable no matter your particular beliefs about any given topic, though there may indeed be sections where nearly anyone will also want to rapidly defenestrate it at the closest available opportunity. Read the book for yourself, decide for yourself what you think of it, and write up your own review of it. Feel free to call me out in your review if you truly think I deserve it. Just read the book for yourself if you think it is something you might be interested in and write your own review when you finish it. (Or even if you DNF it, write your own review noting where and why in the text you decided to DNF.)
Recommended.
Originally posted at bookanon.com.
