-
Your next favorite book
is waiting.
The Mississippi River in North American History
by Paul Schneider
In Old Man River, Paul Schneider tells the story of the river at the center of America's rich history - the Mississippi. Some fifteen thousand years ago, the majestic river provided Paleolithic humans with the routes by which early man began to explore the continent's interior. Since then, the river has been the site of historical significance, from the arrival of Spanish and French explorers in the 16th century to the Civil War. George Washington fought his first battle near the river, and Ulysses S. Grant and William T. Sherman both came to President Lincoln's attention after their spectacular victories on the lower Mississippi.
In the 19th century, home-grown folk heroes such as Daniel Boone and the half-alligator, half-horse, Mike Fink, were creatures of the river. Mark Twain and Herman Melville led their characters down its stream in The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn and The Confidence-Man. A conduit of real-life American prowess, the Mississippi is also a river of stories and myth.
Schneider traces the history of the Mississippi from its origins in the deep geologic past to the present. Though the busiest waterway on the planet today, the Mississippi remains a paradox - a devastated product of American ingenuity, and a magnificent natural wonder.
"Another chockablock, environmentally focused, ambitious volume from Schneider...A wild ride well worth taking." - Kirkus
"Starred Review. With such an expert hand on the tiller, Old Man River is an astonishing journey." - Publishers Weekly
"Nonfiction lovers with eclectic tastes and readers bored by a single-discipline approach will love Schneider's multiple-angle portrait of the Mississippi watershed. The territory Schneider studies is what some dismiss as "flyover country," but what fascinating stories "flyover country" has to tell!" - Booklist
"Paul Schneider recounts history as a novelist might. Once you start one of his books, you find yourself unable to put it down. As I read his story of the Mississippi, I feel like I am revisiting early America on board a raft with Huck and Tom and runaway Jim. I think Mark Twain would be one of the first to congratulate Mr. Schneider on his splendid new book." - James Lee Burke
"I have heard and sung the painful ballad 'Old Man River,' since my childhood in the 40's, but it was only when I read Paul Schneider's Old Man River, I took a deeper look at the Mississippi River and truly understood with greater clarity how, as the author puts it, 'the river's history is our history.' Travelling with Paul Schneider's words and heart is an eye-opening adventure well worth taking." - Charlayne Hunter-Gault, author of In My Place
"A terrific, wonderfully written account of the river, the peoples past and present who lived there, what they loved and what they loathed (often foreigners), how they lived and died and explored and ought in the Old Man's shadow. His tale unfolds from the beginning of north American time and it's the best detective story you'll read this year." - Ward Just, author of An Unfinished Season and Exiles in the Garden
"A fascinating and passionate profile of the river that shaped American history and culture." - Rosemary Mahoney, author of Down the Nile: Alone in a Fisherman's Skiff
"Vividly peopled and comprehensively marshaled, this account makes a fine and flowing read, summarizing the ineffable." - Edward Hoagland, author of Notes from the Century Before and Sex and the River Styx
This information about Old Man River was first featured
in "The BookBrowse Review" - BookBrowse's membership magazine, and in our weekly "Publishing This Week" newsletter. Publication information is for the USA, and (unless stated otherwise) represents the first print edition. The reviews are necessarily limited to those that were available to us ahead of publication. If you are the publisher or author and feel that they do not properly reflect the range of media opinion now available, send us a message with the mainstream reviews that you would like to see added.
Any "Author Information" displayed below reflects the author's biography at the time this particular book was published.
Paul Schneider is the acclaimed author of Bonnie and Clyde, Brutal Journey, The Enduring Shore, and The Adirondacks, a New York Times Book Review Notable Book. He and his wife, the photographer Nina Bramhall, and their son, Nathaniel, divide their time between Bradenton, Florida, and West Tisbury, Massachusetts.
If you liked Old Man River, try these:
by Percival Everett
Published 2026
A brilliant, action-packed reimagining of Adventures of Huckleberry Finn, both harrowing and ferociously funny, told from the enslaved Jim's point of view. From the "literary icon" (Oprah Daily) and Pulitzer Prize Finalist whose novel Erasure is the basis for Cord Jefferson's critically acclaimed film American Fiction.
by Wright Thompson
Published 2025
A shocking and revelatory account of the murder of Emmett Till that lays bare how forces from around the world converged on the Mississippi Delta in the long lead-up to the crime, and how the truth was erased for so long.
by Candice Millard
Published 2023
The harrowing story of one of the great feats of exploration of all time and its complicated legacy - from the New York Times bestselling author of River of Doubt and Destiny of the Republic.
A book may be compared to your neighbor...
Click Here to find out who said this, as well as discovering other famous literary quotes!
Can you name the title?
Test your book knowledge with our daily trivia challenge!
Your guide toexceptional books
BookBrowse seeks out and recommends the best in contemporary fiction and nonfiction—books that not only engage and entertain but also deepen our understanding of ourselves and the world around us.
