Big Muddy Blues: True Tales and Twisted Politics Along Lewis and Clark's Missouri River

When I picked up this book on Missouri River politics I hardly expected it to be so engrossing! The author is a reporter for the St. Louis Post-Dispatch, and he recounts here some of the stories he collected that were too in depth for that publication. He writes in a journalistic style; focusing on interviews he lets the voices of people affected by river management carry the book. In sidebars after almost every chapter he presents well-chosen histories not directly related to the politics that add a great deal to the main text. I learned a great deal about the Missouri River from this book, from its recreational opportunities to its commercial usage. I did not know the government was still taking so much land from the natives so far into the twentieth century; it is hard to imagine that so many people could lose their way of life at the signing of a pen. If the book has any weakness, it is that the interviews necessarily focus on people whose needs are not being met by the politics, so it is something of a downer. Still, it well communicates a love of the river and the history of man's intervention to change it.

This book has it all: exquisite text, well-researched material, interesting format, a "plot" with as many twists and turns as the river itself, and an ability to haunt the reader long after the book is done. Lambrecht's book reveals the history of 20th century activities along the Missouri that is seldom (if ever) taught in our schools. From industrious ambitions, the battles over water, and an account of the indigenous tribes who have lost their culture to Western ways of industry, Big Muddy Blues also presents a hope of reclaiming the wild nature of the Missouri River. The author guides the reader along a closer examination into ways public policy, administration and private interests prioritize the work of government agencies. Lambrecht--the Washington DC Bureau Chief for the St. Louis Post-Dispatch-- travelled the River and talked with people affected by it, now and in the past. Anyone interested in the interplay among government bodies, grassroots efforts, concerned individual action and politics in general will love this book. Readers of nonfiction will appreciate the engaging manner the material is presented. People living in states that border the Missouri River or have water supplies and wildlife affected by it should add this to their reading list... sooner rather than later. One of the best books I've read in a long time. Big Muddy Blues is a gift to citizens, government agency administrators and law-makers everywhere.

In "Big Muddy Blues", Bill Lambrecht has woven intriguing, though somewhat unsettling, tales of one of our most precious resources - water. Specifically he speaks of the Missouri River, but I found myself drawing correlations to other bodies of water dotting our country. If man's need for control has so skewed the patterns of the Missouri, how many other rivers, streams, lakes and bays have suffered the same fate - and with what result? Asking questions of various individuals and groups whose livelihoods are intertwined with the Missouri, Lambrecht presents their answers, but allows the reader to draw conclusions. Disjointed though the writing style appears from time to time, there is a pattern. Lambrecht's tales, of politics and special interest groups, take the reader back and forth through the life of the Missouri - from the days of Lewis and Clark to the present. I praise Lambrecht for raising awareness, of the great Missouri River itself as well as of the politics and factions that are affecting our water resources and environments that rely upon them.

Bill Lambrecht's BIG MUDDY BLUES takes a timely look at the history and the future of the longest river in the United States. It is full of intriguing detail about the river's geography and its inhabitants (notably the pallid sturgeon), the characters who depend on it for their livelihoods, and the woeful land grabs, degradation, and politics that have altered the course of one of the U.S.'s greatest natural resources. But Lambrecht's admiration for and belief in his river (he comes from St. Louis) leave us with glimmers of hope for the future health of the river. His engaging style and neatly-organized chapters contribute to an excellent read.