An Inspiring Read: Life on the Mississippi, An Epic American Adventure by Rinker Buck

I got this as a gift this last Christmas. I had read Rinker’s The Oregon Trail, so I put it on the top of my pile of books to read. I wasn’t disappointed. He built a flatboat like the ones used in the early 1800s and sailed it down the Mississippi River. Flatboats were the supply chain for much of the goods exported down America’s “Great River.”

Rinker is one amazing person to me. He is full of adventure, a risk-taker, self-aware, and a great leader. You not only get to ride along in the flatboat with him, but he regularly highlights the histories of the places he passed. The book introduces to you what was going on in America with the people that lived along the vast Mississippi River watershed. Have fun reading this.