Books about Steamboats from Amazon.com

A stirring account of America's vanished past...
The book that earned Mark Twain his first recognition as a serious writer...

Discover the magic of life on the Mississippi

At once a romantic history of a mighty river, an autobiographical account of Mark Twain's early steamboat days, and a storehouse of humorous anecdotes and sketches, Life on the Mississippi is the raw material from which Twain wrote his finest novel-The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn.

"The Lincoln of our literature." (William Dean Howells).
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The Archimedes is a modern merchant steamship in tip-top condition, and in the summer of 1929 it has been picking up goods along the eastern seaboard of the United States before making a run to China. A little overloaded, perhaps—the oddly assorted cargo includes piles of old newspapers and heaps of tobacco—the ship departs for the Panama Canal from Norfolk, Virginia, on a beautiful autumn day. Before long, the weather turns unexpectedly rough—rougher in fact than even the most experienced members of the crew have ever encountered. The Archimedes, it turns out, has been swept up in the vortex of an immense hurricane, and for the next four days it will be battered and mauled by wind and waves as it is driven wildly off course. Caught in an unremitting struggle for survival, both the crew and the ship will be tested as never before.

Based on detailed research into an actual event, Richard Hughes’s tale of high suspense on the high seas is an extraordinary story of men under pressure and the unexpected ways they prove their mettle—or crack. Yet the originality, art, and greatness of In Hazard stem from something else: Hughes’s eerie fascination with the hurricane itself, the inhuman force around which this wrenching tale of humanity at its limits revolves. Hughes channels the furies of sea and sky into a piece of writing that is both apocalyptic and analytic. In Hazard is an unforgettable, defining work of modern adventure..
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Hal Lindsay is a decorated Union Navy hero and a riverboat captain who has built an empire around his Missouri River steamboats Yet deep inside him lurks the pain of a dark, vicious past - one that has him determined never to marry and have children. It's far better to live alone, finding carnal comfort in the arms of women who will do anything as long as the price is right - women with nothing at stake, like the sensual innocent currently masquerading as an experienced gambler aboard his boat, the Cherokee Belle. For once, Hal wants more - much more...and that is a very dangerous thing...Rosalind Schuyler is appalled to be unmasked by Hal - and frightened as well. The prominent New York railroad heiress is in disguise and on the run to escape marriage to a man who would kill to gain her fortune. Now it seems she's in danger of a different kind. For Hal Lindsay is like no man she's met before. One minute, he's kind as a brother, hiding her from those searching night and day for her. The next, he's a pure masculine animal, taking her to his bed and beyond what she thought were the limits of her desire. Everything he does, she wants more of, but what she wants most, she knows he can never give...Now, as the Belle makes its way down a treacherously swollen Missouri River, picking up friends and enemies along the way, Rosalind and her River Devil are caught up in a current of passion, desire, and danger with no way back and no way out....
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The text of The Confidence-Man reprinted here is again that of the first American edition (1857), slightly corrected. The Second Edition features significantly expanded explanatory annotations, particularly of biblical allusions.

"Contemporary Reviews" includes nineteen commentaries on The Confidence-Man, eight of them new to the Second Edition. Better understood today are the concerted attacks on Melville by, especially, Presbyterian, Congregationalist, and Methodist reviewers.

A new section, "Biographical Overviews," embodies the transformation of knowledge about Melville's life that has occurred over the last three decades. This section provides a wide range of readings of Melville's life by Nathaniel Hawthorne, Dennis Marnon, and Hershel Parker, among others.

"Sources, Backgrounds, and Criticism" is thematically organized to inform readers about movements and social developments central to Melville's America and to this novel, including utopias, cults, cure-alls, Transcendentalism, Indian hating, the Bible, and popular literature.

A Selected Bibliography is also included.

About the Series: No other series of classic texts equals the caliber of the Norton Critical Editions. Each volume combines the most authoritative text available with the comprehensive pedagogical apparatus necessary to appreciate the work fully. Careful editing, first-rate translation, and thorough explanatory annotations allow each text to meet the highest literary standards while remaining accessible to students. Each edition is printed on acid-free paper and every text in the series remains in print. Norton Critical Editions are the choice for excellence in scholarship for students at more than 2,000 universities worldwide..
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Many dream of becoming pro wrestling headliners, but few understand the hard work and dedication needed to reach those heights Almost all top stars have trained in schools and camps with legendary wrestlers to learn how to execute key moves, put together a match, sell yourself and your opponent to the crowd, and keep fit through physical training and healthy diet. The Professional Wrestlers' Instructional and Workout Guide brings readers more than 100 years of collective knowledge and experience from three elite names in the professional wrestling industry, including two former National Wrestling Aliiance World Heavyweight Champions. Harley Race, Ricky Steamboat, and Les Thatcher share their wealth of knowledge and experience as they help the novice wrestler prepare for the long journey into pro wrestling. After reading this book, the aspiring wrestler should have the knowledge of how maneuvers are executed effectively and safely, the physical conditioning needed to perform them, and the thought process involved in piecing together an actual match. The novice should learn the "psychology" of pro wrestling both in and out of the ring as well as how to find employment on the independent circuit and maybe eventually realize their dream of wrestling on the national stage in the WWE..
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This is the story of a great New York State entrepreneur and his steamboat company. It is also about a period of Hudson Valley history so colorful and important that it should never be forgotten. The Cornell Steamboat Company, founded in 1837, was once the leading tugboat company in the nation. In an era of unbridled free enterprise, the company won a virtual monopoly of the Hudson River towing and endured into the 1960s. Founder and president Thomas Cornell was a man of many interests: railroad and hotel builder, two-term congressman, founder and president of two banks. The Cornell Steamboat Company was the jewel of Cornell's vast business empire..
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After the American Revolution, the people of the new United States look westward for a fresh start. President Thomas Jefferson makes the Louisiana Purchase from France 1803 and sends Meriwether Lewis and William Clark to explore the land west of the Mississippi River. The tales the two tell when they return spur this question: How will Americans GET to this new land? Over water, via the Erie Canal? Over a new National Road through the Midwest? This will be a nation founded on transportation! This colorful graphic novel will excite reluctant readers, prepare students for standardized tests in history and help homeschooling parents!.
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"Lee Surrenders!" "President Murdered!" "Booth Killed!" screamed the headlines of American newspapers in April 1865, leaving little room for mention of a maritime disaster that to this day stands as America's worst. On April 27, 1865, the Sultana, a wooden-hulled steamboat carrying six times the legal capacity, exploded on the Mississippi River, killing more than 1,800 men. Here is the little-known story..
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Onboard the Fidele, a steamboat floating down the Mississippi to New Orleans, a confidence man sets out to defraud his fellow passengers. In quick succession he assumes numerous guises - from a legless beggar and a worldly businessman to a collector for charitable causes and a cosmopolitan' gentleman, who simply swindles a barber out of the price of a shave. Making very little from his hoaxes, the pleasure of trickery seems an end in itself for this slippery conman. Is he the Devil? Is his chicanery merely intended to expose the mercenary concerns of those around him? Set on April Fool's Day, The Confidence-Man (1857) is an engaging comedy of masquerades, digressions and shifting identity, and a devastating satire on the American dream..
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