Reference Reviews

Reference for Students

Daily Life along the Mississippi. By George S. Pabis. Westport, Conn.: Greenwood Press, 2007. 1 vol. 232 p. $49.95. ISBN 10: 0-313-33563-X; 13: 978-0-313-33563-1.

While many students may never have seen the musical or film, Showboat, most of them would recognize "Ole Man River" if they heard it sung. This history of Old Man River begins with a 5-page chronology, and traces it from its first settlers in Paleolithic people to Hurricane Katrina. River transportation enabled the development of the agricultural economy of the Midwest. How today's dwellers combat failures in levees built to protect them is shared with the cuisine and music of New Orleans. The major port cities of St. Paul, St. Louis, Memphis and New Orleans helped with the value of this river as a method of transportation through shipping on water. Chapters cover "Life along the Mississippi before 1492," "Native Americans, 1541-1881," "Life in the Colonial Era," "Rural Life during the Antebellum Era," "Transportation and Urban Life in the Antebellum Era," "Life during the Civil War," "Life during Reconstruction, 1865-1900," "1900-1945" and "Life along the Mississippi, 1945-2005." A few black and white photographs illustrate the text. Appendixes include a 3-page glossary and a 15-page bibliography.