Review 146: The End of the River

The End of the River by Simon Winchester
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

This is a long essay, or a mini-book. A novella length if this was fiction. The writing style of Winchester’s in this piece is splendid, particularly in the beginning pages. The essays tell us the history of man engineering the Mississippi River and what the future may hold for it. The engineering and taming of this massive river is ultimately going to end in failure, according to Winchester. Perhaps the plans for the nearby Red River and Atchafalaya can be engineered enough, built quickly enough, to take enough of the pressure off the Mississippi to avoid complete disaster.

There are a few images that show the various versions of the Mississippi alongside the Red River with the various stages. The old 16th century natural flows, then how it naturally changed by the 19th century. This is when mankind started to muck about and change the flow.

It is an enjoyable read of history of engineering of the river. I would have liked a longer work as well, adding in more history of the region; although as it stands now it is enough. It is short enough that it could be read in one sitting (but I didn’t). This wasn’t my first read of Winchester, but it reminded me of his writing and the other books I have awaiting my attention.

Thanks to Scribd Originals and NetGalley for an uncorrected electronic advance review copy of this book.