Wicked River

The Mississippi When It Last Ran Wild

By: Lee Sandlin Jeff

Narrated by: Jeff McCarthy

Acclaimed journalist and author Lee Sandlin delivers a riveting glimpse of a dangerous and colorful place in America’s historical landscape - the Mississippi River of the 19th century. Long before it was dredged into a shipping channel or romanticized into myth, the untamed Mississippi - the lifeblood of communities that rose and fell along its banks - spawned a motley array of pirates and dignitaries, visionaries, and thieves.

©2010 Lee Sandlin (P)2010 Recorded Books, LLC

A wild work of historical art

I enjoyed each chapter as it plods along, culminating in one of the most explosive scenes in history. It’s a worthy trek of imagination and terror without hindsight bias.

Worth a listen

A series of interesting historical vignettes, some well-known:others not, presented in an animated narration. I love history presented as a "story" and not a plodding trek through dates and factoids. This book is very much akin to The Devil in the White City, American Lightning, Thunderstruck, and Higher. By the way, the aforementioned books are at least 4 star quality as well.

great book on the Mississippi River history

great book on the history and historical events that took place in the Mississippi Rivers earlier days

A Complex History On a Canvas

This book was collage of intertwined stories that provides the consumer with a strong foundational setting from which to follow. Each story connects the reader to a different part of the River and the historical figures and events that shaped the Mississippi and the USA. The racial tensions imparted in the book is a very important to the context of life and politics during this period.

Entertaining history of the Mississippi river

The book was spectacular. it starts out a little slow with visual descriptions of the Mississippi river. It then moves on to strange and entertaining stories of some the characters that traveled on the river and some of the historic towns. I highly recommend this read.

Great book to listen to

The performance was very good and this is the type of book best listened to. Good stories and history.

Learned new things about the River

I was born on the left descending bank of the River and have always been intrigued by the stories

I really got sucked in. (-:

I got through this book really fast. I was surprised when it was over. It can take months for me to finish a book I bought. This one was done in less than a week. I’ve lived near the river for almost 20 years now and feel like I know it better. The author paints a clear and realistic picture of what life was like before it was tamed and over-regulated as it is now. I read Tom Sawyer and Huckleberry Finn with it and it is good to get past all the flair and yarns of Mark Twain and hear a plain description of the wild time. Complete with frontier men, slave owners, slaves, preachers, keelboats, rafts, steamers, pirates, rebels and Yankees. It was just a non-stop parade of interesting people and adventures in the bad old days, before Eads, and the Army Corps of Engineers, and the railroads came along.

Appropriately for 2020, it’s full of numerous pandemics. Each of which is far worse than COVID-19. Malaria, Yellow Jack and Typhus all show up to make people’s lives miserable. They just had no good way of controlling insects, disposing of sewage, or maintaining hygiene and they had no idea of vaccines so the disease came.

They actually did have systemic racism. He tells of the misery of slavery, including sexual, that was being practiced in Vicksburg and how paranoid of abolition and uprisings slave owners became. Slave owners did not enjoy peace of mind. However the Civil War did come to Vicksburg and the military adventure of its taking may well be the best part of the book.

I highly recommend the book and hope you enjoy.

Mississippi history

What did you love best about Wicked River?

The history of life on the Mississippi.

What did you like best about this story?

Interesting about how the river has changed over time and keeps changing.

Any additional comments?

Good listen. I would recommend to anyone who lives near the Mississippi and who likes history.

Fantastic history along the Big River

So many rich and detailed stories about life and history along the Mississippi River its very hard to stop listening this is a must listen for anyone who feels even slightly interested you will like this. The author has a fantastic way of getting to the heart of individuals and their stories and the also the river itself.