Reviews for The River We Have Wrought: A History of the Upper Mississippi

The average rating for The River We Have Wrought: A History of the Upper Mississippi based on 2 reviews is 3.5 stars.

Review # 1 was written on 2009-01-17 00:00:00 Charles Cheraso This book provides a detailed look at the history of that portion of the Mississippi River which runs through the Twin Cities (Minneapolis and St. Paul). It describes how the river was affected by the increasing population in the area, and then by decisions made by the various entities (Army Corps of Engineers, etc..) for the purpose of shaping the river into the most effective possible transportation mechanism. It is also a work of advocacy for seeing the river as an integral part of the natural community, and limiting future interventions to those which meet a wide set of criteria including criteria related to nature's well-being.

Review # 2 was written on 2014-04-09 00:00:00 Gaylord Kruse Amazingly deep research went into this well-organized and nicely told history of landscape intervention on the Upper Mississippi. Fair warning that the ecology of the river gets short shrift in the book's purported mission to illustrate the debate between improvements for navigation and preservation and use of the natural resources of the river; this book is mostly about the politics of public megaprojects in 1860s-1930s USA.