A consummate prankster with a quick wit, Tom Sawyer dreams of a bigger fate than simply being a "rich boy." Yet through the novel's humorous escapades-from the famous episode of the whitewashed fence to the trial of Injun Joe-Mark Twain explores the deeper themes of the adult world, one of dishonesty and superstition, murder and revenge, starvation and slavery.

A riveting narrative look at one of the most colorful, dangerous, and peculiar places in America's historical landscape: the strange, wonderful, and mysterious Mississippi River of the 19th century.
 
Beginning in the early 1800s and climaxing with the siege of Vicksburg in 1863, Wicked River brings to life a place where river pirates brushed elbows with future presidents and religious visionaries shared passage with thieves.

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Traces the course of the river Mark Twain immortalized; describes its physical features, history, and importance.

Buck chronicles his adventure building a wooden flatboat from the bygone era of the early 1800s and journeying down the Mississippi River to New Orleans. Over the course of his voyage, steering a fragile wooden craft through narrow channels dominated by massive cargo barges, Buck rescues his first mate gone overboard, sails blindly through fog, breaks his ribs not once but twice, and camps every night on sandbars, remote islands, and steep levees....

"A twenty-first-century perspective of the Mississippi River's environmental, industrial, and recreational qualities viewed through stories and photographs reflecting the lives of those who live and work in its vicinity. Fischer's storytelling explores the struggle between engineers and naturalists, the effects of Hurricane Katrina, and her own immersion into river life"--Provided by publisher.