Includes bibliographical references (p. 197-223) and index
Introduction : the American Nile : "ultima thule" -- Empire : Jefferson and "the Mississippi we must have" -- Frontier : Jackson and the "half-horse, half-alligators" -- Travel and tourism : Europeans on "this foul stream" -- Moving panoramas : the "useful illusion" of the visual Mississippi -- Crime and punishment : "extraordinary metaphysical scamps" in the Mississippi underworld -- Epilogue : the Civil War and Mark Twain