Author: John S. Sledge Publisher: Univ of South Carolina Press ISBN: 1611174864 Category : Nature Languages : en Pages : 613
Book Description
“A fine, fascinating book. John S. Sledge introduces us to four centuries worth of heroes and rogues on one incredible American river.” —Winston Groom, New York Times–bestselling author of Forrest Gump The Mobile River presents the first-ever narrative history of this important American watercourse. Inspired by the venerable Rivers of America series, John S. Sledge weaves chronological and thematic elements with personal experiences and more than sixty color and black-and-white images for a rich and rewarding read. Previous historians have paid copious attention to the other rivers that make up the Mobile’s basin, but the namesake stream along with its majestic delta and beautiful bay have been strangely neglected. In an attempt to redress the imbalance, Sledge launches this book with a first-person river tour by “haul-ass boat.” Along the way he highlights the four diverse personalities of this short stream—upland hardwood forest, upper swamp, lower swamp, and harbor. In the historical saga that follows, readers learn about colonial forts, international treaties, bloody massacres, and thundering naval battles, as well as what the Mobile River’s inhabitants ate and how they dressed through time. A barge load of colorful characters is introduced, including Native American warriors, French diplomats, British cartographers, Spanish tavern keepers, Creole women, steamboat captains, African slaves, Civil War generals and admirals, Apache prisoners, hydraulic engineers, stevedores, banana importers, Rosie Riveters, and even a few river rats subsisting off the grid—all of them actors in a uniquely American pageant of conflict, struggle, and endless opportunity along a river that gave a city its name. “Sledge brilliantly explores the myriad ways human history has entwined with the Mobile River.” —Gregory A. Waselkov, author of A Conquering Spirit
Author: Ben Raines Publisher: ISBN: 9781588383389 Category : Nature Languages : en Pages : 200
Book Description
Journalist, filmmaker, and environmental activist Ben Raines turns his attention to Alabama's Tensaw Delta in this gorgeously illustrated and meticulously researched book. Identified by Raines and others as America's own Amazon, the Tensaw Delta is the most biodiverse ecosystem in our nation. This special book celebrates this most significant of Alabama's waterways while also chronicling how it is increasingly at risk.
Author: John S. Sledge Publisher: Univ of South Carolina Press ISBN: 1643360159 Category : History Languages : en Pages : 360
Book Description
“[Sledge] rightfully celebrates and affirms the southern sea’s enriching past and gives readers reason to want for its wholesome and meaningful future.” —Jack E. Davis, Pulitzer Prize–winning author of The Gulf: The Making of an American Sea The Gulf of Mexico presents a compelling, salt-streaked narrative of the earth’s tenth largest body of water. In this beautifully written and illustrated volume, John S. Sledge explores the people, ships, and cities that have made the Gulf’s human history and culture so rich. Many famous figures who sailed the Gulf’s viridian waters are highlighted, including Ponce de León, Robert Cavelier de La Salle, Francis Drake, Elizabeth Agassiz, Ernest Hemingway, and Charles Dwight Sigsbee at the helm of the doomed Maine. Gulf events of global historical importance are detailed, such as the only defeat of armed and armored steamships by wooden sailing vessels, the first accurate deep-sea survey and bathymetric map of any ocean basin, the development of shipping containers by a former truck driver frustrated with antiquated loading practices, and the worst environmental disaster in American annals. Occasionally shifting focus ashore, Sledge explains how people representing a gumbo of ethnicities built some of the world’s most exotic cities—Havana, way station for conquistadores and treasure-filled galleons; New Orleans, the Big Easy, famous for its beautiful French Quarter, Mardi Gras, and relaxed morals; and oft-besieged Veracruz, Mexico’s oldest city, founded in 1519 by Hernán Cortés. In the modern era the Gulf has become critical to energy production, fisheries, tourism, and international trade, even as it is threatened by pollution and climate change. The Gulf of Mexico is a work of verve and sweep that illuminates both the risks of life on the water and the riches that come from its bounty.
Author: John S. Sledge
Author: Ben Raines
Author: Peter Joseph Hamilton
Author: Watt Key
Author: John S. Sledge
Author: Gregory C. Johnson
Author: James L. Robinson
Author: James David Williams
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