The Mobile River
$3,099.80 Original price was: $3,099.80.$1,593.75Current price is: $1,593.75.
Price: INR3,099.80 - INR1,593.75
(as of Nov 07, 2025 11:42:18 UTC – Details)
“A fine, fascinating book. John S. Sledge introduces us to four centuries worth of heroes and rogues on one incredible American river.” —Winston Groom, New York Times–bestselling author of Forrest Gump
The Mobile River presents the first-ever narrative history of this important American watercourse. Inspired by the venerable Rivers of America series, John S. Sledge weaves chronological and thematic elements with personal experiences and more than sixty color and black-and-white images for a rich and rewarding read.
Previous historians have paid copious attention to the other rivers that make up the Mobile’s basin, but the namesake stream along with its majestic delta and beautiful bay have been strangely neglected. In an attempt to redress the imbalance, Sledge launches this book with a first-person river tour by “haul-ass boat.” Along the way he highlights the four diverse personalities of this short stream—upland hardwood forest, upper swamp, lower swamp, and harbor.
In the historical saga that follows, readers learn about colonial forts, international treaties, bloody massacres, and thundering naval battles, as well as what the Mobile River’s inhabitants ate and how they dressed through time. A barge load of colorful characters is introduced, including Native American warriors, French diplomats, British cartographers, Spanish tavern keepers, Creole women, steamboat captains, African slaves, Civil War generals and admirals, Apache prisoners, hydraulic engineers, stevedores, banana importers, Rosie Riveters, and even a few river rats subsisting off the grid—all of them actors in a uniquely American pageant of conflict, struggle, and endless opportunity along a river that gave a city its name.
“Sledge brilliantly explores the myriad ways human history has entwined with the Mobile River.” —Gregory A. Waselkov, author of A Conquering Spirit
ASIN : B00OM3M8JM
Publisher : University of South Carolina Press
Accessibility : Learn more
Publication date : April 13, 2022
Language : English
File size : 8.8 MB
Screen Reader : Supported
Enhanced typesetting : Enabled
X-Ray : Not Enabled
Word Wise : Enabled
Print length : 613 pages
ISBN-13 : 978-1611174861
Page Flip : Enabled
Best Sellers Rank: #1,484,247 in Kindle Store (See Top 100 in Kindle Store) #102 in Science of Rivers #238 in Historical Geography eBooks #614 in Historical Geography
Customer Reviews: 4.8 4.8 out of 5 stars 36 ratings var dpAcrHasRegisteredArcLinkClickAction; P.when(‘A’, ‘ready’).execute(function(A) { if (dpAcrHasRegisteredArcLinkClickAction !== true) { dpAcrHasRegisteredArcLinkClickAction = true; A.declarative( ‘acrLink-click-metrics’, ‘click’, { “allowLinkDefault”: true }, function (event) { if (window.ue) { ue.count(“acrLinkClickCount”, (ue.count(“acrLinkClickCount”) || 0) + 1); } } ); } }); P.when(‘A’, ‘cf’).execute(function(A) { A.declarative(‘acrStarsLink-click-metrics’, ‘click’, { “allowLinkDefault” : true }, function(event){ if(window.ue) { ue.count(“acrStarsLinkWithPopoverClickCount”, (ue.count(“acrStarsLinkWithPopoverClickCount”) || 0) + 1); } }); });
Customers say
Customers praise the book’s outstanding narrative and masterful research, describing it as a history not to be missed. The book receives positive feedback for its readability, with one customer calling it a treasure.
AI Generated from the text of customer reviews


Rough Alto –
Fascinating
I bought this book because I am retiring to the area (having grown up near New Orleans) and wanted to better understand the history. What a treasure of a book! The author does an outstanding job of telling the story of this amazing region, and I’m grateful. Looking out over Mobile Bay will never the the same for me.
Ron Joullian –
Comprehensive Work
This is not my first book that I’ve read by Sledge. As with the others , he reveals a love of the subject. As a Mobile native, I revisited its history through his thoroughness of everything along the course of the Mobile River and its tributaries from those shores to the sea.
Roy Daniels –
Great river, great story
Sledge gives us an understanding of the physical reality of the Mobile River combined with the history of the river. The Mobile runs from the conjunction the Alabama and Tombigbee Rivers and is therefore not a long river. Buts its history from the arrival of the French to the present is extensive. With the city of Mobile as the most significant point on the river, much of the history centers there. Sledge combines the physical realities with the historical to give an informative story that explains how Mobile came to exist in its present state.
J Klotz –
Masterful research and beautifully written in a way that makes it difficult for …
An exciting and captivating ride down the Mobile River to the Bay. Full of legend and factual accounts of life on this Alabama waterway and the City where it ends, Mobile. Masterful research and beautifully written in a way that makes it difficult for the reader to put it down, and sad when it’s over. Thanks for the adventure!
Amazon Customer –
Five Stars
Jam full of interesting and fascinating facts, characters and history.
WBW –
Top History Reading
Excellent read. Plenty of details.
Papi –
History not to be missed.
Outstanding narrative. History well written with fine supporting photos.
Bennie Henderson –
Five Stars
Excellent book. Thanks.