~ 1883 ~
"Life on the Mississippi" is a memoir and travel book by Mark Twain, published in 1883. Twain recounts his time as a steamboat pilot on the Mississippi River before the American Civil War. He describes his training with an experienced pilot, the ever-changing Mississippi River, and his trip many years later on a steamboat from St. Louis to New Orleans. Twain also adds his observations on competition from railroads, bad architecture, and tall tales. The book was simultaneously published in the United States and Great Britain in 1883. "Life on the Mississippi" was later adapted as a TV movie and as a stage musical.