The Big Muddy: An Environmental History of the Mississippi and Its Peoples from Hernando de Soto to Hurricane Katrina by Christopher Morris (review)

On the first page of his ambitious and highly entertaining The Big Muddy: An Environmental History of the Mississippi and Its Peoples from Hernando de Soto to Hurricane Katrina, Christopher Morris divides the Mississippi River Valley into two categories: the “wet” and the “dry.” The wet valley is the natural formation created by the mighty river, while the dry has been constructed—with varying degrees of success—on the original wet one by people of mainly European ancestry in their foolhardy attempt to interrupt many of the river’s endemic processes, the most important of which is the nearly annual flooding.

The Mississippi basin is, however, customarily divided into the “upper” and “lower” valleys, with the confluence of the Ohio and Mississippi Rivers serving as the traditional boundary between them. Contrary to the promise of the book’s subtitle (and presumably to the disappointment of many readers), the environmental history of only the lower(most) Mississippi Valley is addressed in any depth. Morris pays the bulk of his attention to the area covered by the present-day state of Louisiana and to the river’s estuary, with occasional forays into the Mississippi and Arkansas bottomlands. Of course, a comprehensive environmental history of the whole Mississippi Valley in 224 pages of text would be a tall order. Considering the magnitude of his project for even the lower Mississippi Valley, Morris copes admirably.

The first five chapters examine the lower Mississippi floodplain in its natural condition and the various ways Native Americans and early Spanish and French settlers adapted—or tried to adapt—to the damp landscape. Chapters 6–8 describe the construction of a massive levee system that transformed the region into a prime agricultural area as a part of the United States during the nineteenth century. Relief from flooding made the development of European-style agriculture and infrastructure possible, but only at great environmental cost and with unanticipated consequences. The last three chapters of the book examine, among other topics, the “pathological landscape” of pesticides, herbicides, and insect-transmitted diseases; the role of aquaculture; and “nature’s return” in the form of Hurricane Katrina, together constructing an unusually powerful argument for the more sustainable use of the floodplain in the future (pp. 169, 204).

Morris proves highly successful in unveiling many of the complex interactions at work between humans and nature along the lower Mississippi. There is much familiar material here, but the author is able to bring fresh insights; especially impressive is his archival work on the early French experience. At times, Morris seems to somewhat overplay his—admittedly accessible—wet-dry dichotomy and exaggerates the wetness of the floodplain in its natural state. Inaccuracies and oversimplifications in his interpretation of the biological sciences are sometimes evident. For example, contrary to the claim on page 161, a sizable amount of batture survives inside the levee along the lower Mississippi, and it is there that the natural environment to this day retains features of the original “wet” landscape, including abundant wildlife.

Unavoidably, some important topics remain largely unaddressed. The effects of massive reservoir construction on floodplain hydrology since the mid-twentieth century receive little attention. Similarly, a discussion of the introduction of exotic fish species into the Mississippi system, such as the Asian bighead and silver carp, could have made the arguments put forth in chapter 10 even stronger. Morris’s study of the catfish industry likewise would have provided ample opportunity to analyze the continuing subjugation of the region’s African American labor force.

The minor criticisms outlined above should not divert attention from Morris’s considerable achievement. While it is, quite understandably, impossible for this short book to answer all the important questions it raises, The Big Muddy nevertheless addresses a seemingly familiar topic from an original...