John S. Sledge

The Mobile River, by John Sledge, is an excellent in-depth history lesson about early days of lower Alabama, centered around the Mobile and its feeder rivers and their importance to growth of the South. I purchased a signed copy of the book at Page & Pallet independent bookstore in Fairhope, AL where the Mobile Bay, mouth of the Mobile River, is only a few blocks away. John Sedge has done his homework with the vast amount of historical facts but most importantly, has integrated these previously disconnected clues into a nicely flowing stream of connected persons (both famous and infamous), places and contiguous narrative. The multinational (American Indian, Spanish, French, British, etc) influences on the city of Mobile, Pensacola, New Orleans, and surrounding areas of the South are explored and explained. Names very familiar to most Americans (Andrew Jackson, Geronimo, etc) are plentiful but their direct involvement in the 'settlement' of southern America and the Gulf Coast in particular is mostly unknown. This book should be required reading for anyone learning about the early history of America and will be enjoyed by anyone with a curious mind.… (meer)