The ‘Great River’

We have recently read a lot about James, the alternative narrative of the enslaved character in Huckleberry Finn. That novel and many others are set, in part, on the Mississippi River. The Mississippi River is certainly, in many ways, a defining natural feature of the United States. It either borders or runs through ten states. Remember trying to learn how to spell Mississippi. I still use the ‘crooked letter, crooked letter, humpback’ method, but then I grew up having to spell Chattanooga! The Ojibwe named the river Misi-ziibi. or Great River.

Boyce Upholt has written a new book entitled The Great River: The Making and Unmaking of the MIssissippi. In the Washington Post, June 13, 2024, Ralph Eubanks gives a lengthy review of the book. Like the author, Eubanks has paddled the river by a canoe and says, “For those who have never placed a paddle in those sacred waters, reading The Great River is the closest thing to traveling the Mississippi and engaging with its story and its ferocity.” Read James, reread Huckleberry Finn and then read Upholt’s book. OR, you could simply get a canoe and go for a paddle!