Life on the Mississippi

PRAISE FOR LIFE ON THE MISSISSIPPI: “Audacious … Compelling … An antidote to the cynicism of the times … Life on the Mississippi sparkles… . His prose, like the river itself, has turns that quicken the pulse.” —Wall Street Journal“An invigorating blend of history and journalism informs this journey down Old Man River… . Besides being a willing and intrepid traveler, Buck is also an able interpreter of history, and it’s clear that he’s devoured a library of Mississippiana. It all makes for an entertaining journey in the manner of William Least Heat-Moon, John McPhee, and other traveler-explainers. For armchair-travel aficionados and frontier-history buffs, it doesn’t get much better.” —Kirkus Reviews (starred review), “Best Nonfiction Books of 2022”“Engaging … [Buck is] a travel writer who delights in incongruity and in history’s rhymes.” —New York Times“A rich mix of history, reporting, and personal introspection … I see Buck at the helm of the Patience when I read Twain’s description of a riverboat captain: ‘A pilot, in those days, was the only unfettered and entirely independent human being that lived on the earth.’” —St. Louis Post-Dispatch“Rinker Buck seems like a guy you could sit down and have a beer and a good chat with… . The simplest conversation quickly turns into a master class of storytelling in short form… . Life on the Mississippi [is] an epic tale told with wit, wisdom and heart-touching honesty… . What the book will certainly do is give readers an up-close look at the waters so few of us see.” —Gulf Coast Media“Captivating … Rough-edged, well informed, and honest about his own blind spots, Buck is a winning tour guide. American history buffs and armchair adventurers will relish the trip.” —Publishers Weekly“[A] riveting, revealing, and often side-splitting saga that Oregon Trail fans would expect it to be… . Rollicking good reading.” —New York Journal of Books “Buck’s ability to deftly balance the intimate and the epic, along with his pervading charm and literary panache, make Life on the Mississippi an entertaining and engrossing read… . The book’s most poignant aspect is achieved thanks to the author’s ability to sketch brief, affecting portraits of the people with whom his voyage brings him into contact.” —Shelf Awareness, “Best Nonfiction Books of 2022”“Both a travelogue and an engaging history lesson about America’s westward expansion after the Revolutionary War … It’s a mark of Buck’s ability to write engagingly of his journey that many readers will conclude that a trip down the Mississippi would be a romantic adventure and a wonderful chance to learn about America’s history.” —Christian Science Monitor, “Best Nonfiction Books of 2022”“Life on the Mississippi is a fascinating mix of history and travelogue… . Buck shines a light on an important yet forgotten part of American history and shows its relevance to today’s America.” —American Essence

Rinker Buck began his career in journalism at the Berkshire Eagle and was a longtime staff writer for the Hartford Courant. He has written for Vanity Fair, New York, Life, and many other publications, and his work has won the PEN New England Award, the Eugene S. Pulliam National Journalism Writing Award, and the Society of Professional Journalists Sigma Delta Chi Award. He is the New York Times bestselling author of The Oregon Trail, Flight of Passage, and First Job. He lives in Tennessee.

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