Review by Booklist Review
Two widely known historians buddied up to ascend Old Man River and produce this profusely illustrated album. Inspired by the bicentennial of the Louisiana Purchase, Ambrose and Brinkley offer innumerable insights about the river's significance--socially, militarily, economically, and culturally--in American history. Their work is not history of the river per se; it is akin to a homes-and-haunts tour, not for novice tourists such as Natchez offers but for history-aware readers curious about signal people who lived along the river. Between James Eads, who made navigable the mouth of the Mississippi, and Henry Schoolcraft, who discovered its true source in Lake Itasca, Ambrose and Brinkley present a gallery of figures, introducing each as they reach the town with which the person is associated. Not all are famous: one expects regaling about Andrew Jackson and the Battle of New Orleans, but a bonus is Jordan Bankston Noble, a 14-year-old free black drummer in the battle. Indeed, black history is prominent much of the authors' way northward as they visit stations on the Underground Railroad, Civil War battlefields, or places where Louis Armstrong, Leadbelly, or Richard Wright grew up. Variegated and ruminative about the Mississippi's physical and literary centrality to American history, Ambrose and Brinkley's exploration will justly attract great attention. --Gilbert Taylor
From Booklist, Copyright (c) American Library Association. Used with permission.
Review by Publisher's Weekly Review
"The Mississippi River alone represents more than 2,350 miles of America's lifeblood," write Ambrose and Brinkley of the waterway known as Old Man River and America's River. This lively narrative is built around the authors' trip up the Mississippi from New Orleans to Minnesota on the 19th-century steamboat Delta Queen in celebration of the Lewis and Clark bicentennial. Ambrose, bestselling author of Nothing Like It in the World, and noted historian Brinkley (The Unfinished Presidency), weave regional history with their personal account of the sights, from the intersection of Highways 61 and 49 near Clarksdale, Miss., where legend has it that musician Robert Johnson "sold his... soul to the devil to play the meanest blues guitar in the region," to their encounter with a domesticated bald eagle at a sanctuary near the Twin Cities. They stress the economic and cultural importance of the river valley to the nation, recount quirky regional "firsts" (such as the debut of peanut butter at the 1904 St. Louis World's Fair) and focus above all on the machinations that led to Jefferson's 1803 purchase of the territory from France. Combining an impressively broad overview of the region with a detailed account of the Louisiana Purchase, this absorbing book should please any lay enthusiast of American history. 150 pages of photos and maps. (Oct.) Forecast: Given the eminence of the authors, the beauty of the photos, and the coming bicentennial of the Lewis & Clark expedition, this should see very handsome sales. (c) Copyright PWxyz, LLC. All rights reserved
(c) Copyright PWxyz, LLC. All rights reserved
Review by Library Journal Review
The Mississippi River valley and the enormous region that drains into it form much of the American heartland. The history of this region is the history of much of our country, and its presence is prominent in much of our literature and culture. National Geographic's last book on this important area was published in 1971, and this update by popular historians Ambrose and Brinkley (who both traveled the river's 2,353 miles for the project) is a welcome addition to the literature on the region. This title is well illustrated in the tradition of National Geographic publications, and yet the text is informative and substantial enough to make this more than another coffee-table book. This work, which tells the river's story from the time of the 1803 Louisiana Purchase onward, promises to appeal to a wide range of readers and would be an excellent addition to the collections of most public libraries and many academic libraries as well.-Charlie Cowling, Drake Memorial Lib., SUNY at Brockport (c) Copyright 2010. Library Journals LLC, a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.
(c) Copyright Library Journals LLC, a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.
