Local author of 'Great River' to talk about changes to the Mississippi over the centuries

Local author, journalist, and essayist Boyce Upholt will visit the Milton H. Latter Memorial Library, 5120 St Charles Ave., on Sept. 4 at 5:30 p.m. to discuss his book “The Great River.” A sweeping history of the Mississippi River, it outlines the centuries of human meddling that have transformed both the river and America as a whole.

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. The river was ever-changing, and Indigenous tribes embraced and even depended on its regular flooding.

But the expanse of the watershed and the rich soils of its floodplain lured European settlers and American pioneers, who had a different vision: The river