> >2.  I am wondering if there are any works or scholars
> >interested in how the
> >river  served specifically as a mean of transmitting culture
> >and change
> >among the communities served by it?  Did Twain write about the
> >river in
> >these kinds of terms?
>
> >Dr. Harold K. Bush, Jr., Associate Professor
> >Dept. of English
> >Saint Louis University
> >St. Louis, MO  63108
> >[log in to unmask]
> >314-977-3616 (w);  314-771-6795 (h)  314-495-4094 (cell)
> ><www.slu.edu/colleges/AS/ENG/faculty/hbush.html>


Two early books come to mind that touch on this theme in a way. Glazier's
DOWN THE GREAT RIVER  (1887) is one, and Clifton Johnson's book on the
Mississippi River Valley from his Highway and Byways series at the
turn-of-the-century is the other, nicely illustrated with photos, with some
focus on black culture and river towns, and even an account of Twain's visit
to Hannibal and his encounter with a black family living in the old Tom
Blankenship home. But these are not books by scholars, nor literary, but of
possible interest because they appeared in Twain's lifetime.

Kevin Mac Donnell
Austin TX