Mississippi River Reading List

[editor@cruisecritic]

What are the must-read books for anyone cruising on the Mississippi (lower, upper, other arteries)? I'm already re-reading Mark Twain's Life on the Mississippi (available for free, by the way, on Kindle), and Ron Power's White Town Rising. But would love other suggestions!

 

Carolyn

 

And p.s. does American Queen (not to mention Queen of the Mississippi) have a good library?

 

Carolyn Spencer Brown

Editor in Chief

Cruise Critic

[Calliope]

The AQ's Riverlorian has books about steamboats, the Civil War, and the river to lend out, but it's not an extensive collection by any means.

 

Captain Frederick Way, Jr. wrote several books about river history. Although none are currently in print, there are three books of his that give a good view of becoming an Ohio River steamboat pilot ("Pilotin' Comes Natural"),owning and operating a sternwheel packet during the 1920's ("The Log of the BETSY ANN"), and the story of bringing the DELTA QUEEN from California to the Mississippi River System ("Saga of the DELTA QUEEN"). All three are excellent and a very enjoyable read.

[steamboats]

Carolyn,

 

Life on the Mississippi is a good way to start with (and I´ve just started re-reading it again today on my Kindle - but this time in English :D).

 

DH has compiled quite a few books about the rivers on our steamboats.org website. Not all of them are still available. Some you can still find as used books (and some are getting very pricey).

 

Fred Way´s The Saga of the Delta Queen is a classic to learn more about the history of the Delta Queen. So is King & Queen of the River by Stan Garvey and Long Live the Delta Queen by Letha Greene.

 

Maybe ask the riverlorian for Moonlite at 8:30 by Alan L. Bates and Clarke C. Hawley.

 

steamboats

[Calliope]

I agree 100% with Steamboats. Her suggestions are spot on.

 

"Moonlite at 8:30," written by two steamboat captains, is about excursion boats in 20th Century America. It's chocked full of photos of excursion boats and their crews along with interesting narrative. One story is that Truman Capote's father was an advance man for Streckfus Steamers, a line of excursion steamboats operating on the Mississippi and Ohio Rivers. Capote's father was so grateful to the Streckfus family that he gave his son the Streckfus surname as Truman's middle name.

[editor@cruisecritic]

Thanks, Calliope & Steamboats!

 

Carolyn

 

I agree 100% with Steamboats. Her suggestions are spot on.

 

"Moonlite at 8:30," written by two steamboat captains, is about excursion boats in 20th Century America. It's chocked full of photos of excursion boats and their crews along with interesting narrative. One story is that Truman Capote's father was an advance man for Streckfus Steamers, a line of excursion steamboats operating on the Mississippi and Ohio Rivers. Capote's father was so grateful to the Streckfus family that he gave his son the Streckfus surname as Truman's middle name.

[JudyM]

I agree that the library is very specific to the history of steamboats, but since that's why I was on the cruise, that was fine with me. Travis, the Riverlorian, was very knowledgeable about the collection - perhaps he assembled it? - and I found lots of books I enjoyed. A lot of the history might not have wide appeal for leisure reading, but there was a copy of 'Sow Boat' by Edna Ferber. It's a classic I had somehow never read, and the cruise was the perfect setting to read it.

 

Good thread! I'd love to see more suggestions.

[editor@cruisecritic]

The only real problem I had with the reading selection on board (in particular the Riverlorian's lair) was that there wasn't enough time to just sit quietly in a rocking chair and ... do it! That may be my fault :) -- with only three days on board I wanted to see and do everything. Definitely want to come back for a longer trip.....

 

Carolyn