Old Glory : A Voyage Down the Mississippi | Jonathan Raban

Old Glory : A Voyage Down the Mississippi | Jonathan Raban | miserable bastard, but he can write

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Old Glory : A Voya...

	Old Glory : A Voyage Down the Mississippi Jonathan Raban Vintage, 1998 - 416 pages average customer review:based on 17 reviews view larger image
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highly recommended

The author of Bad Land realizes a lifelong dream as he navigates the waters of the Mississippi River in a spartan sixteen-foot motorboat, producing yet another masterpiece of contemporary American travel writing. In the course of his voyage, Raban records the mercurial caprices of the river and the astonishingly varied lives of the people who live along its banks. Whether he is fishing for walleye or hunting coon, discussing theology in Prairie Du Chien or race relations in Memphis, he is an expert observer of the heartyland's estrangement from America's capitals ot power and culture, and its helpless nostalgia for its lost past. Witty, elegaic, and magnificently erudite, Old Glory is as filled with strong currents as the Mississippi itself.

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Raban's Pursuit of A Dream

Um, fellow reviewers, do you think that every little town in America is a picture postcard? Or do you not think there is a dark side to life in London, New York, or in any little burg one might chance upon, say, going down the Mississippi? Do you think that people don't have a disgruntled, distrustful side as well as a kind, generous side? Would you, in short, prefer a chintzy Hallmark postcard to a well-penned, thoughtful, erudite travel book, such as this?--If so, why did you bother reading or reviewing it?

As Raban remarks to one of his inquisitors, he in not a journalist and this book is about him and his impressions on his, brave or quixotic, depending on how you view it, travel down the Mississippi inspired by dreams of it since a boyhood reading of Mark Twain.

Yes, some of it is sad and melancholy. But often it is laugh-out-loud funny at the author's expense as much as at the expense of any of the people he meets. It is often very bracing and generous; and erudite, like all of Raban's writings.

As a refutation to all the nay-sayers, please cast your eye on the last page of Chapter 10 where he opens the note from the tow captain he has been accompanying:

"I opened it ten minutes later and read it by the light of a city streetlamp, with the paper dimpling in the warm rain.

"I know very little
of writers, but people
I do no. You are a
Good man to ride
The River with, Jonathan Ravan
Bob Kelley
Master M/v Jimmie L.
Dec. 7, 1979"

It was the one certificate I had most wanted to earn."

Another fantastic book by Raban, the greatest, most thoughtful, introspective, literate travel writer alive today.

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miserable bastard, but he can write

Raban left his wife in England and went to live in the States a number of years ago. He's written a number of great books about America and this is his best. He remarried and lived in Seattle, but is now divorced again. You won't see too many photos of a smiling, happy Raban- but apart from his Passage to Junea and his fiction, everything he's written is first class

Borak down the river

Raban is a very special travel writer and this book, which I read 18 years after he drifted down the Mississippi, warmed me like few others.
His conversations with such a diverse (but from my experience, typical) set of Americans were classic. I dont believe he is unduly pessimistic but rather realistic and in many ways he captured early , many growing influences that impact American society (and global politics) today.

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An Englishman on the Mississippi

This is the first book I would recommend to anyone who wanted to understand the Mississippi River. It is the story of an Englishman who dreams of seeing the river, from Minneapolis to New Orleans, and so buys a 16' motorboat in which to ride downriver, see interesting cities, boring cities, and judge everyone he sees on the way. Telling a narrative of his journey, Raban takes time to meet the people who make the river work, from lock operators to barge drivers, and gives a clear picture of how the Mississippi lives. He offers colorful, clear descriptions of river features like boils, eddies, wing dams, and tows (which actually push). And still, he takes time out of his trip to campaign for a mayoral candidate.

Nevertheless, in any book of this nature the author becomes the only major character, and I didn't find myself liking Raban the character very much. When I think of traveling the Mississippi, part of that dream is something of a wilderness adventure, but here is the wealthy Raban spending most of his nights in hotels, seeming rather weak and overly afraid of nature and wildlife. And while one's personal relationships during a solo journey like this are sure to be mostly superficial, Raban seems to take a uniformly negative, judgmental view towards the people he meets. Read this book to better understand the river, not mankind.

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reviews: page 1, 2, 3, 4

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