Contents -- Preface -- Acknowledgments -- Part I. The Mississippi -- 1. Catfish Bend -- 2. Painting the River -- 3. Mississippi Harvest -- 4. Nauvoo, the Beautiful Place -- 5. Mound Builders -- 6. What the River Carries -- Part II. The Missouri -- 7. Point of Departure -- 8. Little Dixie -- 9. The Overlook -- 10. Missouri River Music -- 11. The Taking -- 12. Restorations -- Part III. The Platte -- 13. The Middle Ground -- 14. No Other River -- 15. Nine-Mile Prairie -- 16. Pawnee Homecoming -- 17. Gone to the Beets -- 18. Meanderings -- Works Cited and Consulted.