|
Showing 1 - 4 of
4 matches in All Departments
In his memoir, Life on the Mississippi, Mark Twain personified the
river as "Sudden Death and General Desolation! Sired by a
hurricane, dam'd by an earthquake, half-brother to the cholera,
nearly related to the small-pox on the mother's side! Look at me! I
take nineteen alligators and a bar'l of whiskey for breakfast when
I'm in robust health, and a bushel of rattlesnakes and a dead body
when I'm ailing!" Twain's time as a steamboat pilot showed him the
true character of The Great River, with its unpredictable moods and
hidden secrets. Still a vital route for U.S. shipping, the
Mississippi River has given life to riverside communities,
manufacturing industries, fishing, tourism, and other livelihoods.
But the Mighty Mississippi has also claimed countless lives as
tribute to its muddy waters. Climate and environmental conditions
made the Mississippi the perfect incubator for diseases like
malaria. Natural disasters like tornadoes, floods, and even an
earthquake have changed and reshaped the river's banks over
thousands of years. Shipwrecks and steamboat explosions were once
common in the difficult-to-navigate waters. But when there was
money to be made, there were some willing to risk it all-from the
brave steamboat captains who went down with their ships, to the
illegal moonshiners and pirates who pillaged the river's bounty. In
this book, author and Mississippi River historian Dean Klinkenberg
explores the many disastrous events to have occurred on and along
the river in the nineteenth and twentieth centuries-from steamboat
explosions, to Yellow Fever epidemics, floods, and Prohibition
piracy. Enjoy this journey into the darkest deeds of the
Mississippi River.
|
You may like...
Loot
Nadine Gordimer
Paperback
(2)
R398
R330
Discovery Miles 3 300
Hampstead
Diane Keaton, Brendan Gleeson, …
DVD
R66
Discovery Miles 660
The Creator
John David Washington, Gemma Chan, …
DVD
R325
Discovery Miles 3 250
|
Email address subscribed successfully.
A activation email has been sent to you.
Please click the link in that email to activate your subscription.