BOYCE UPHOLT: THE GREAT RIVER
Join us as we welcome BOYCE UPHOLT on TUESDAY, JUNE 25 at 6:00 PM to celebrate the release of THE GREAT RIVER: THE MAKING AND UNMAKING OF THE MISSISSIPPI
ABOUT THE BOOK:
Over thousands of years, the Mississippi watershed was home to millions of Indigenous people who regarded “the great river” with awe and respect, adorning its banks with astonishing spiritual earthworks. But European settlers and American pioneers had a different vision: the river was a foe to conquer. In this landmark work of natural history, Boyce Upholt tells the epic story of human attempts to own and contain the Mississippi River, from Thomas Jefferson’s expansionist land hunger through today’s era of environmental concern. He reveals how an ambitious and sometimes contentious program of engineering–government-built levees, jetties, dikes, and dams–has not only damaged once-vibrant ecosystems, but may not work much longer, and explores how scientists are scrambling to restore what’s been lost. Rich and powerful, The Great River delivers a startling account of what happens when we try to fight against nature instead of acknowledging and embracing its power.
ABOUT THE AUTHOR:
Boyce Upholt is a journalist and essayist whose writing has appeared in the Atlantic, National Geographic, the Oxford American, and Virginia Quarterly Review, among other publications, and was awarded the 2019 James Beard Award for investigative journalism. He publishes the Substack Southlands and lives in New Orleans.
