Boyce Upholt is a journalist and essayist based in New Orleans, and the author of The Great River: The Making and Unmaking of the Mississippi, published by W.W. Norton in June.

The Mississippi River is central to the United States, both physically and metaphorically. Its watershed spans almost half the country. Mark Twain’s travels on the river inspired the America’s first national literature. Blues and jazz were born in its floodplains and carried upstream. Nonetheless, few Americans have a clear picture of what this river looks like. In this talk, journalist Boyce Upholt will discuss how our history of engineering has caused the country to lose sight of its great river--and what that may cost us.