Life on the Mississippi documents Rinker Buck’s travels on the Ohio and Mississippi Rivers. During his travels, he encounters a storm that nearly wreaks his boat and gets run aground. He crosses a whirlpool and navigates the Ohio and the Mississippi intersection at Cairo. And most amazingly, he breaks his ribs not once but twice. He does this all in a flatboat modeled on the ones used during the “Flatboat Era” of the late 18th and early and middle 19th centuries. In his book, he goes from telling his travels to exploring the history of the Flatboat Era. He speaks about the economic significance of the two rivers and how they were built and are still building America. He talks about the dark chapters of slavery and the Indian Removal and how they shaped America. He writes about this in the perfected writing form he got as a journalist for many magazines, including Life.
This book interested me in this period of American history that is often glossed over by teachers. I highly recommend it.
