Life on the Mississippi: Originally Illustrated

"But the basin of the Mississippi is the Body of the Nation... Latitude, elevation, and rainfall

all combine to render every part of the Mississippi Valley capable of supporting a dense population. As a dwelling-place for civilized man it is by far the first upon our globe." -Editor's Table, Harper's Magazine (1863)

Life on the Mississippi (1883) is a brilliant memoir by Mark Twain of his days as a steamboat pilot on the Mississippi River before the American Civil War. It is also a history o...