Jackson, MS: University Press of Mississippi (April 15, 2024)

Paperback.

New.

A celebration of the Magnolia State's exceptional waterways Mississippi rivers and creeks have shaped every aspect of the state’s geology, ecology, economy, settlement, and politics. Mississippi's paddleways—its rivers, rills, creeks, and streams—are its arteries, its lifeblood, and the connective tissues that tie its stories and histories together and flood them with a sense of place and impel them along the current of time. The rivers provide structure for the telling of stories. In Paddleways of Mississippi: Rivers and People of the Magnolia State, readers will discover flowing details of virtually every waterway in the state—the features, wildlife, vegetation, geology, hydrology, and specific challenges to be expected—alongside many wonderful historical and social accounts specific to each system.

Interviews and oral histories enliven these waterways with evocative scenery, engaging anecdotes, interesting historical tales, and personal accounts of the people and communities that arose along the waterways of Mississippi. Part natural history, part narrative nonfiction, Paddleways of Mississippi will appeal to outdoor enthusiasts, anglers, naturalists, campers, and historians, and is suitable for novices as well as experts. Told together, the pieces included are a social and ecological history that exposes and deepens the connection coursing between the people and the rivers.

Ernest Herndon (Gloster, Mississippi) is author of numerous books, including Canoeing Mississippi and Canoeing Louisiana, and coauthor with Scott B. Williams of Paddling the Pascagoula, all published by University Press of Mississippi. He is longtime Outdoors Editor for the McComb, Mississippi, Enterprise-Journal; has won dozens of journalism awards; and has been published in a number of magazines.

Patrick Parker (McComb, Mississippi) is a physiologist, naturalist, and travel and outdoor writer. His writing has been featured in US News & World Report, The Washington Times, and Tanzania Today, as well as local publications such as the Enterprise-Journal newspaper, Bluffs & Bayous Magazine, Pulse Magazine, and Eat Drink Mississippi.