Daily Life along the Mississippi

George Pabis

• Publisher: Greenwood
• Year: 2007
• Print ISBN:
  9780313335631
• Edition: 1
• eBook ISBN:
  9780313054006
• Topic: History
• Subtopic: North American History
• Index: History

The Mississippi River has influenced the economy, domestic life, culture, politics, and rhythms of American daily life. The Louisiana Purchase of 1803 and the victory at the Battle of New Orleans in 1813 gave the river a central part in the evolution of the United States. Events such as the birth of jazz and technological advances such as the steamboat solidified its place in American lore. Pabis's rich thematic chapters detail the daily lives of those living along the Mississippi and the culture that surrounded it, from the Native Americans at Cahokia to the rise of major port cities such as New Orleans, St. Louis, and St. Paul. Readers will learn how the river's transportation economy fed America's agricultural heartland, how ethnic ties and technological advances affected home and family life, and how the region's current residents still cope with living in a flood culture. An ideal resource for students of American history.

Pabis's rich thematic chapters explore many aspects of daily life, including the influence of the Trans-Atlantic fur trade on the lives of Native tribes; how the river's transportation economy fed America's agricultural heartland; the effects of ethnic ties and Jim Crow laws on the river communities, the development of food production and cuisine; and how present-day residents cope with life in a flood culture, including the effects of Hurricane Katrina.
Mark Twain once called the Mississippi the Body of the Nation. Readers will learn how this influential region lived and breathed from day to day, from pre-Columbian times to the present. An ideal reference source for any student of American history and culture.

Table of contents

• Contents
• Series Foreword
• Acknowledgments
• Chronology
• Introduction
• 1. Life along the Mississippi before 1492
• 2. Native Americans, 1541–1881
• 3. Life in the Colonial Era
• 4. Rural Life during the Antebellum Era
• 5. Transportation and Urban Life in the Antebellum Era
• 6. Life during the Civil War
• 7. Life during Reconstruction, 1865–1900
• 8. 1900–1945
• 9. Life along the Mississippi, 1945–2005
• Glossary
• Selected Bibliography
• Index