Review
Title: River Fever: Adventures on the Mississippi, 1969-1972
Author: Will Bagley
Publisher: Signature Books
Genre: Autobiography
Year Published: 2019
Number of Pages: 269
Binding: Paper
ISBN: 978-1-56085-278-0
Price: $18.95
Reviewed by Andrew Hamilton for the Association for Mormon Letters
I own somewhere in the neighborhood of 20 books that were authored, edited or researched by Will Bagley. I also have a number of historical journals that I purchased specifically for their articles that Bagley edited or authored. I enjoyed reading “So Rugged and Mountainous” so much that, when I visited the City of Rocks National Reserve back in 2011, I talked the individual running the visitor center into stocking a few copies in the Oregon Trail section of their bookstore. But despite all this, when I first learned of Will Bagley’s Memoir/Autobiographical novel “River Fever: Adventures on the Mississippi, 1969–1972,” which tells the tale of the time that a 20ish year-old Bagley floated down the Mississippi River in a homemade boat, my initial reaction was, “Okay, and … ?” I thought that it was cool and all that, as a young hippie, Bagley had the chance to float off to look for America[1], but I was not convinced that such a tale would make an interesting or engaging book. However, as soon as I read Chapter 1, “The Fisherman,” in which Bagley deftly narrates an encounter between himself, his dog Thor, and a fisherman named Fred that he met in Olmstead, Illinois in March 1972, the story of Bagley’s journey and the people that he met came to life for me and I was so hooked that I could hardly set it down.
In 1969, Bagley was a 19 year old self-described “crazy” sophomore at UC Santa Cruz who was trying to make sense of the world in the wake of the Bobby Kennedy and Martin Luther King assassinations. He was studying “history, music, and drugs” while reading Twain and Jack Elliot when “Huck Finn caught up with (him)” and he became determined to float the length of the Mississippi River in a raft. Somehow, Bagley managed to convince his girlfriend Suzy and four of their friends to marry their fortunes together, build a raft from wood and oil drums, and set off into “America’s heart of darkness where I could find a vanished past” (p. 40). They drove to Rock Island, Illinois, assembled their raft, procured a small motor, survived a couple of run-ins with the Law, scrawled “New Orleans or bust” on the side of their boat and set off. “River Fever” narrates how, over the course of two journeys down the Mississippi, a bicycle/hitchhiking journey across the heartland, and some time spent as a mountain hermit, Bagley loses and finds his soul while looking for the soul of America.
Right about now you might be asking yourself the same question that I did, “Okay, And … ?” So, let me give you some reasons why I think you might enjoy reading “River Fever.”
First, Bagley’s ability to construct and weave a narrative is amazing. In only a few short lines the people that he is writing about come to life with a depth that lets you picture them and a reality and emotion that makes you care about them. In the second chapter he meets a fellow hippie named Ralph. Ralph is a preacher of sorts who is fishing with three young Black boys. They pick up the wanderlusting Bagley and take him home for the afternoon. The way Bagley describes them and his conversations with them, I felt like I knew and could see them. I gained an investment in their lives and had the desire to see their story through to the end. Some people tell a story or tell history; in “River Fever,” Bagley makes his story and the accompanying history come to life. I really became invested in his companions and friends, especially his girlfriend Suzy and his dog Thor. I was elated with their ups, sorrowed with their downs, and feared for how things would turn out when the going got rough.
Second, Bagley is a historian at heart, and that heart shines through the story in River Fever. The narrative is his own and the story is very personal, but the personal narrative is strengthened by Bagley’s knowledge of history. As he floats down the river from Illinois to New Orleans, and in his other journeyings, Bagley fleshes out his personal story with just enough history to add extra interest without it ever becoming a distraction. As he tells the tale of his personal epic, Bagley nimbly weaves in details about Mormon Nauvoo, the Civil Rights movement, the Civil War, Jack Elliot and Randi Ray, local history of the hamlets and towns he visits, he even works in details of the later lives of ship captains he met on his journey. Bagley works all of this and more in giving greater life and detail to the narrative of his journey down the Mississippi River.
The best reason to read “River Fever,” though, is that it is a fun story, a great book, and a compelling adventure. Along with being a dogged researcher and a great historian, Bagley is a consummate story teller. Bagley was inspired by Huck Finn, and during the journey is occasionally compared to the fictional adventurer by the people he meets. It is an apt comparison. There is a lot of Finn in Bagley and a lot of Huck in the book. It is a story of life, death, love, adventure, discovery, sex, drugs, and rock and roll; you might say that it is the 1960’s in 230 pages.
“River Fever” is broken up into two distinct parts. As just alluded to, the first 230 pages is the story of Bagley’s four years of journeying down the Mississippi and across America. It was mostly written in 1975 with some minor editing done over the years and a very brief coda added in 2019 on the last page. This is followed by a 36-page afterword that largely describes Bagley’s experiences and struggles while writing and documenting Mormon history, including his work on “Blood of the Prophets” and his massive “Kingdom in the West” series. As a fan of Bagley and his books I found these later stories interesting and informative and I think that, in general, those who enjoy Bagley’s books will find these background stories to be fascinating as well. But if there is a weak point to “River Fever,” it is this afterword. It is not that the afterword is bad or poorly written, it just doesn’t seem to me to fit with the rest of the book. To me the afterword would make a perfect introduction or maybe conclusion to an updated re-release of “Blood of the Prophets” or in the same position in the last volume of “Kingdom in the West,” but in “River Fever” it is awkward and out of place.
Despite this one small weakness, River Fever is a great book, and a fun adventure. Bagley’s ability to tell a story, write dialogue, and depict the various characters that he met is fantastic. As I read, I felt like I was experiencing the journey. I could hear the music, smell the great outdoors, feel the pulsing of the river, and see the people. A lot has happened in the 50 years since 1969 and “River Fever” is the kind of book that both allows you to experience the past, the lost bit of Americana, as well as inform your present. It is a fun and fantastic book from an excellent author.
[1] I admittedly paraphrase Paul Simon several times in this review, Will Bagley does not do so in the book.